A History of Science, VOL 2 Beginnings of Modern Science - Henry Smith Williams (1904)

Digitized by tine Internet Archive
in
2010
witii
funding from
Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries
Iittp://www.arcliive.org/details/historyofscience02will
SIR ISAAC
NEWTON
A HISTORY OF SCIENCE
BY
QôCI
Copyright,
CONTENTS
BOOK
II
CHAPTER
SCIENCE IN THE DARK AGE

Distinction between classical and medieval epochs, p. 3 Learning of the time centred in the priesthood, p. 4 Effect of Oriental superstition on science, p. 6 Age of extant manuscripts, p. 7 Scarcity of manuscripts, p. 9 Preservation of Western literature
by the Arabs,
p.
11.
CHAPTER
II
MEDIEVAL SCIENCE AMONG THE ARABIANS

Scientific studies of Arabian scholars, p. 13 Evidences of Arabian practicality in measuring the earth, p. 14 Albategnius, the Arabian astronomer, p. 15 Arabian centres of learning, p. 17 Alhazen, p. 18 His conception in the fields of astronomj'- and physics, Geber the chemist, p. 20 Arabian medicine, p. 21 Arap. 19 bian hospitals, p. 26.
CHAPTER
MEDIEVAL SCIENCE
p.
III
IN
THE WEST
p.
Byzantine medicine, 31 Thirteenth-century medicine, 33 Arnold and the search a drug to produce 34 Peter of Abano, 36 Practice of dissection reintroduced into Europe, 38 Fifteenth-century medicine, 37 Guy of Chauliac, 40 Recovery of the 39 Scepticism as to ancient authorities, De Medicine of Cornelius Celsus, 40 The question of "revulsion" or "derivation," 40 Treatment of gun-shot wounds as advocated by John of Vigo, 41 New beginnings in general 42 Roger Bacon, 44 His discoveries and teachings, 45 Leonardo da Vinci, man of 47 His conception of
for
insensibility, p.
p. p.
p.
p. lost
p.
p.
p.
p.
science, p.
p.
p.
science, p.
iii
CONTENTS the earth's movements, 47 His invention of a "steam-engine," p. 48 His discoveries in geology,
p.
p. 50.
CHAPTER
THE NEW COSMOLOGY
IV
COPERNICUS TO KEPLER AND GALILEO
The doctrine of the earth's motion as propounded by Nikolaus of Cusa, p. 53 The coming of Copernicus, p. 54 His early conception of the heliocentric system of the universe, p. 55 Reception of Copemicus's revolutionary views, p. 63 Tycho Brahe, p. 65 His Many specific advances rejection of the Copemican theory, p. 65 made by him in astronomy, p. 67 His accuracy as an observer, Johann Kepler and the laws of planetary motion, p. 70p. 68 The sun as the centre of the planetary orbits taken for granted, p. Galileo Galilei, p. 76 His construction of the telescope and his 73 studies of the heavenly bodies by means of it, p. 77 His discovery of the sun's spots, p. 80 His accusation before the Inquisition, and his renunciation, p. 91.
CHAPTER V
GALILEO AND THE
NEW
PHYSICS
102 Galileo and the equilibrium of His experiments on the displacement of floating bodies, 107 William Gilbert and the study of magnetism, iii His demonstration that the earth was a giant loadstone, 114 His studies of the dipping needle, 115 His prediction as to 116 The studies of where the vertical dip would be found, 120 His 117 heat, and atmospheric pressure,
His publication of the Dialoghi delle Nuove Scienze, p. 93 His demonstration of the velocity of falling bodies, p. 94 His studies of projectiles, p. 95 His studies of the pendulum, p. 100 Stevinus
and the law of equilibrium,

fixiids,
p.
p.
105
p.
p.
p.
p.
p.
light,
p.
Torricelli, p.
dis-
covery of air pressure, and his invention of the barometer, p. 121 Pascal's suggestion for demonstrating that Torricelli 's theory
correct, p. 122.
is
CHAPTER
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
VI
Ancient origin of alchemy, p. impostors, p. 125 Serious belief in the possibility of transmuting metals, and eminent personages who practised alchemy, p. 126 Alchemic conceptions of the process of transmutation, p. 128 The alchemists' three principles, salt, sulphur, and mercury, p. 129
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY 124 Fabulous claims of numerous
iv
CONTENTS
Their ideas of the "spirit" of metals, p. 130 Interest taken by governments in the philosopher's stone, p. 133 Dangers attending the practice of alchemy, p. 134 Formation of religious sects, p. Substances thought to contain the magic "essence" at vari135 ous times, p. 136 Deceptions practised by clever impostors, p. 137 Final overthrow of the belief in alchemy, p. 140 Astrology, p. 141 Judicial astrology Its uses and methods of studying it, p. 142 at its height in England, p. 145 Lilly and his predictions, p. 146 The explanation of some remarkable predictions, p. 154.
CHAPTER
VII
FROM PARACELSUS TO HARVEY

His early life, p. 156 His revolutionary teachParacelsus, p. 156 Influence of his teaching, p. 158 His relation to modern chemistry, p. 163 The great anatomists, p. 163 Charles Etienne and Andrew Vesalius, p. 163 Fate of Vesalius, p. 165 The teachings of Eustachius, Fallopius, and Columbus, p. 165 Michael Servetus and the discovery of the pulmonary circulation, The coming of Harvey, p. 169 Harvey as physician to p. 168 Charles I., p. 170 His demonstration that the intraventricular septum of the heart is not porous, p. 1 7 1 His discovery of the enormous amount of blood passing through the heart hourly, p. 173 Experiments to prove that the blood passes from the heart by the arteries and is returned by the veins, p. 173 His demonstration with ligatures to show the difference in the direction of the two blood currents, p. 175 Antony von Leeuwenhoek and the discovery of microbes, p. 179.
ings, p. 157
CHAPTER
Ambroise Pare,
VIII
MEDICINE IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

His improvements in surgery, p. 181 p. 181 Peter Franco's operation for strangulated hernia, p. 182 Fabricius Hildanes, p. 183 The medical system of Jan Baptista van Helmont, p. 185 The I atrochemical school, p. 186 The I atro physical school, p. 187 Borelli's foundation for establishing it, p. 188 Thomas Sydenham, p. 189 His work in establishing rational treat-
ment
of diseases, p. 189.
CHAPTER IX
PHILOSOPHER -SCIENTISTS AND
NEW
INSTITUTIONS OP LEARNING
Francis Bacon, p. 192 His teachings of inductive study, p. 192 Descartes, p. 193 His theories and his discoveries, p. 193 His
CONTENTS conception of the universe, 195 Leibnitz and his work, 197 198 Influence of BaFounding of the great 200 The con's condemnation of existing methods of teaching,
p.
p.
scientific societies, p.
p.
Royal Society of London and the great Continental

ed, p. 201.
societies foiind-
CHAPTER X
THE SUCCESSORS OF GALILEO IN PHYSICAL SCIENCE
p. 205
p.
204 His experiments on atmospheric pressure, Mariotte and Von Guericke, 210 Von Guericke's 211 His demon211 His experiments in pump, 212 Robert Hooke, stration of the pressure of the atmosphere, 216 watches, 215 His invention of the balance-spring 218 His adaptation of the micrometer to the Huygens, 219 His statement of the laws governing the of scope, 221 His solution of the problem of the "centre of bodies,
Robert Boyle,
p.
p.
p.
air-
electricity, p.
p.
for
p.
p.
tele-
p.
collision
elastic
p.
oscillation," p. 224.
CHAPTER XI
NEWTON AND THE COMPOSITION OP LIGHT
Newton's early life, p. 225 His studies of the composition of light, His study of colors, p. 233 Opposition to Newton's views, Voltaire's comment on Newton's discovery of the compop. 234
p. 227
sition of light, p. 235.
CHAPTER
The idea
XII
NEWTON AND THE LAW OF GRAVITATION

apple, 237 Newton's obVoltaire and the story of the that some force constantly the moon servation of the 238 His calculation of the force of towards the earth, calculation being 239 His 239 The reason taken 240 His account of solution of the problem, discovery upon the of 241 The Principia, from 250. 250 Lagrange's estimate of Newton, world,
falling
p.
of universal gravitation not original with Newton, p. 236

fact
p.
pulls
p. final
for this
p.
p.
this pull, incorrect, p. this
his
effect
this
scientific
p.
p.
CHAPTER
Crudeness in the construction ^The invention and development
of
XIII
INSTRUMENTS OF PRECISION IN THE AGE OF NEWTON

most
scientific instruments, p. 252
of the telescope, p. 252
The
vi
CONTENTS 253 The application of the telescopes of Galileo and Kepler, micrometer to the telescope, 254 Revolutionary of this adaptation, 255 Huygens's invention of the pendulum clock, 256 The application of the coiled spring for regulating watches and marine clocks, 257 The invention of the sextant, and upon navigation, 257 Improvement of the microscope,
p. p.
effect
p.
p.
p.
its
effect
p.
p. 258.
CHAPTER XIV
PROGRESS IN ELECTRICITY FROM GILBERT AND VON GUERICKE TO FRANKLIN
The experiments of Francis Hauksbee, p. 259 Stephen Gray and the discovery of electrical conduction, p. 262 His experiments with long conducting-cords, p. 263 His discovery that silk was a non-conductor, p. 266 The experiments of Dufay, p. 267 His discovery of insulation, p. 270 His discovery of vitreous and resSpectacular experiments of George Matthias inous electricity, p 2 7 2 Ludolff 's proof that the electric spark is fire, p. 276 Bose, p. 274 Gordon's invention of an electric bell and motor, p. 279 Von Kleist invents the Leyden jar, p. 280 Benjamin Franklin and his experiments for drawing off and throwing off electricity, p. 286 His battery, p. 289 His invention of the lightning-rod, p. 290 His proof that lightning is electricity, p. 293.
CHAPTER XV
NATURAL HISTORY TO THE TIME OF LINNÛS
The immediate predecessors of Linnagus, p. 297 The discoveries of Malpighi, p. 297 Nehemiah Grew's Anatomy of Vegetables, p. 298 Discoveries of Robert Hooke and Stephen Hales, p. 298 The classifications of Ray, Rivinus, Camerarius, and Tournefort, p. 299^ The coming of Linnaeus, p. 299 His famous system of
classification, p. 301.
APPENDIX
305
ILLUSTRATIONS
SIR ISAAC
NEWTON
Frontispiece
DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE ALHAZEN'S MEASUREMENT OP
THE HEIGHT OF THE ATMOSPHERE
Facing
p.
20
ROGER BACON
NICOLAUS COPERNICUS
" "
"
48
54
TYCHO brake's QUADRANT
68
72
JOHANN KEPLER. KEPLER's MECHANISM TO ILLUSTRATE

BODIES
" HIS (iNCORRECT)
EARLY THEORY AS TO THE ORBITS OF THE PLANETARY

"
"
"
. .
74
78 82
GALILEO GALILEI
FRONTISPIECE OF GALILEO's " SYSTEMA COSMICUM "
GALILEO BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL

BLAISE PASCAL
"
90
122
" " "
WILLIAM HARVEY
FRANCIS BACON
. .
170
I92
RENE DESCARTES
GOTTFRIED WILHELM VON LEIBNITZ
"
"
I94
196
VIEW IN THE LIBRARY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY
....
" "
2o6
212
VON GUERICKE'S air-pump

REPRODUCTION OF A PLATE IN HOOKE's "MICROSCOPICAL observations"
"
216
.
ROBERT HOOKE's MICROSCOPE

ix
"
218
ILLUSTRATIONS
HUYGENS'S CLOCK
Facing
p.
222
DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE NEWTON's LAW OF GRAVITATION

" "
238
286
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
STEPHEN HALES'S EXPERIMENT TO DETERMINE THE PRESS-
URE OF THE FLOW OF SAP

CAROLUS LINNiEUS
"
298
302
"
BOOK
II
THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SCIENCE

Roman period in the fifth century a.d. to about the middle of the eighteenth century. In tracing the course of events through so long a period, a difficulty becomes prominent which everywhere besets the historian in
degree
less
studies of the present book cover the progress THE of science from the close of the
strictly
ment.
due to the conflict between the chronological and the topical method of treatWe must hold as closely as possible to the
difficulty
actual sequence of events, since, as already pointed

out, one discovery leads
on to another.
But, on the
other hand, progressive steps are taken contempora-
neously in the various fields of science, and if we were to attempt to introduce these in strict chronological order we should lose all sense of topical continuity.
Our method has been to adopt a compromise, following the course of a single science in each great
I
epoch to a convenient stopping-point, and then turning back to bring forward the story of another science.
Thus, for example, we tell the story of Copernicus and Gahleo, bringing the record of cosmical and mechanical progress down to about the middle of the seventeenth century, before turning back to take up the physiological progress of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Once the latter stream is entered, however, we follow it without interruption to the time of Harvey and his
tury,
contemporaries in the middle of the seventeenth cenwhere we leave it to return to the field of mechan-
ics as exploited
by the
successors of Galileo,
who were
Newton.
of
also the predecessors
and contemporaries
to the
of
In general,
as possible,
it
will aid the reader to recall that, so far
we hold always
same sequences
topical treatment of
we
treat first
contemporary events; as a rule the cosmical, then the physical, then the
biological sciences.
The same order
of treatment will
be held to in succeeding volumes. Several of the very greatest of scientific generaliza-
by the present book: for example, the Copemican theory of the

tions are developed in the period covered
solar system, the true doctrine of planetary motions,
the laws of motion, the theory of the circulation of the

blood, and the Newtonian theory of gravitation.
The
labors of the investigators of the early decades of the
eighteenth century, terminating with Franklin's dis-
covery of the nature of Hghtning and with the Linnasan classification of plants and animals, bring us to the close of our second great epoch; or, to put it
otherwise, to the threshold of the
modern period,
SCIENCE
IN
THE DARK AGE
obvious distinction between the classical and epochs may be found in the fact that whereas the latter failed to proproduced, the former duce, a few great thinkers in each generation who were imbued with that scepticism which is the foundation of the investigating spirit who thought for themselves
AN
i\ medieval
and supplied more or less rational explanations of observed phenomena. Could we eliminate the work
of
some score
or so of classical observers
and
thinkers,
the classical epoch would seem as
much
a dark age as
does the epoch that succeeded
it.
:
But immediately we are met with the question Why do no great original investigators appear during all these later centuries ? We have already offered a part
explanation in the fact that the borders of civilization, where racial mingling naturally took place, were peopled with semi-barbarians.
But we must not

all
forget
that in the centres of civilization
along there were

it
many men
of powerful intellect.
Indeed,
would
vio-
late the principle of historical continuity to
suppose
that there was any sudden change in the level of mentality of the Roman world at the close of the classical
period.
We
must assume,
then, that the direction in
which the great minds turned was for some reason changed. Newton is said to have alleged that he made
3
his mind in a certain probable that the same explanation may be given of almost every great scientific discovery. Anaxagoras could not have thought out the theory of the moon's phases Aristarchus could not have found out the true mechanism of the solar system; Eratosthenes could not have developed his his discoveries
by "intending"
It is
direction continuously.
plan for measuring the earth, had not each of these investigators "intended" his
mind
persistently towards
the problems in question.

lived in every generation dark age who were capable of creative thought in the field of science, had they chosen similarly to "intend" their minds in the right direction. The difficulty was that they did not so choose. Their minds had a quite different bent. They were under the spell of different ideals all their mental efforts were
of the
;
Nor can we doubt that men
directed
into
different
channels.
ferent channels were cannot be in
What these difdoubt they were

One
all-
the
channels
of
oriental
ecclesiasticism.
volumes here. It isthjO-fact points out, from the that, as Professor Robinson time of Boethius ( died 524 _qr_5.25 a d~')" t"o~'that"of Dante (i26c;-i.^2i a. p. ) therejwas not a single writer ofre nown in western Europe who wasnot a pro^. fessional_ churchman^ AH the learning of the time,
significant fact speaks
^
.
then, centred in the priesthood.
W"e^ know that "the
same condition of things pertained in Egypt, when But, contrariwise, we became static there. have seen that in Greece and early Rome the scientific
science
workers were largely physicians or professional teachers there was scarcely a professional theologian among them.
4
SCIENCE
Similarly, as
IN
THE DARK AGE
Arabic world, where alone there was progress in the medieval epoch, the
shall see in the
we
most part, physicians. Now must be self-evident. The physician naturally "intends" his mind towards the
learned
men
were, for the

of
this
the
meaning
practicalities.
His professional studies tend to
make
him an
is
investigator of the operations of nature.
He
usually a sceptic, with a spontaneous interest in

practicalities
practical science.
mind away from
But the theologian "intends" his and towards mysticism.
He
is
a professional believer in the supernatural; he

is
discounts the value of merely "natural" phenomena.
His whole attitude of mind
unscientific; the funda-
mental tenets of his faith are based on alleged occurrences which inductive science cannot admit namely, miracles. And so the minds "intended" towards the supernatural achieved only the hazy mysticism of mediseval thought. Instead of investigating natural laws, they paid heed (as, for example, Thomas Aquinas does in his Summa Theologia) to
-^
|C
'
the "acts of angels," the " speaking of angels,"
^J ^^
the "subordination of angels," the "deeds of guardian

angels,"
and the
as.
like.
questions
How many
point of a needle?
They disputed such important angels can stand upon the They argued pro and con as to
whether Christ were coeval with God, or whether he had been merely created " in the beginning," perhaps ages before the creation of the world. How could it be expected that science should flourish when the greatest minds of the age could concern themselves with problems such as these ? ^J Despite our preconceptions or prejudices, there can
VOL.
II.
[-
be but one answer to that question.
stition cast its blight
Oriental super-
upon the
fair field of science,
whatever compensation it may or may not have But we must be on our brought in other fields. guard lest we overestimate or incorrectly estimate this influence. Posterity, in glancing backward, is always prone to stamp any given age of the past with one idea, and to desire to characterize it with a vsingle
phrase; whereas in reality
all
ages are diversified, and

is
any generalization regarding an epoch

that epoch something less or
justice.
sure to do
something more than
We may
is
ecclesiasticism
tific stasis
be sure, then, that the ideal of not solely responsible for the scienIndeed, there was another of the dark age.
influence of a totally different character that
is too patent to be overlooked the influence, namety, of the economic condition of western Europe during this period. As I have elsewhere pointed out,^ Italy, the centre of western civilization, was at this time impov-
erished,
and hence could not provide the monetary
stimulus so essential to artistic and scientific no less
than to material progress. There were no patrons of science and literature such as the Ptolemies of that elder Alexandrian day. There were no great libraries no colleges to supply opportunities and aft'ord stimuli
to the rising generation.
Worst
is
of
all, it
became
in-
creasingly difficult to secure books.
This phase of the subject
often overlooked.
Yet
a moment's consideration
will
scientific books How should we fare to-day if were being produced, and if the records of former generations were destroyed? That is what actually
show no new
its
importance.
SCIENCE
IN
THE DARK AGE
happened in Europe during the Middle Ages. At an earUer day books were made and distributed much more abundantly than is sometimes supposed. Bookmaking had, indeed, been an important profession in Rome, the actual makers of books being slaves who worked under the direction of a pubHsher. It was through the efforts of these workers that the classical works in Greek and Latin were multiplied and disseminated. Unfortunately the climate of Europe does not conduce to the indefinite preservation of a book hence very few remnants of classical works have come down to us in the original from a remote period. The rare exceptions are certain papyrus fragments, found in Egypt, some of which are Greek manuscripts dating from the third century B.C. Even from these sources the output is meagre and the only other repository of classical books is a single room in the buried city of Herculanettm, which contained several hundred manuscripts, mostly in a charred condition, a considerable number of which, however, have been unrolled and found more or less legible. This library in the buried city was chiefly made up of philosophical works, some of which were quite unknown to the modern world until discovered there. But this find, interesting as it was from an archseological stand -point, had no very important bearing on our knowledge of the literature of antiquity. Our chief dependence for our knowledge of that literature must still be placed in such copies of books as were made in the successive generations. Comparatively few of the extant manuscripts are older than the tenth century It requires but a momentary consideraof our era.
; ;
tion of the conditions under which ancient books were
produced to realize how slow and difficult the process was before the invention of printing. The taste of the book-buying public demanded a clearly written text, and in the Middle Ages it became customary to produce a richly ornamented text as well. The script employed being the prototype of the modern
be obvious that a scribe could produce but a few pages at best in a day. A large work would therefore require the labor of a scribe for many months or even for several years. We may assume, then, that it would be a very flourishing publisher who could produce a hundred volumes all told per annum; and probably there were not many publishers at any given time, even in the period of Rome's greatest glory, who had anything like this
printed text,
it will
output.
As
there
was a
large
number
of authors in every
generation of the classical period, it follows that

of these authors
most
must have been obliged to content themselves with editions numbering very few copies; and it goes without saying that the greater number of books were never reproduced in what might be Even books that retained called a second edition.
their popularity for several generations
would presently
;
fail to arouse sufficient interest to be copied and in due course such works would pass out of existence alto-
gether.
Doubtless
many hundreds
of
books were thus
lost before the close of the classical period, the
names
of
their authors being quite forgotten, or preserved only
through a chance reference; and of course the work of elimination went on much more rapidly during the

Middle Ages, when the interest in classical literature sank to so low an ebb in the West. Such collections of references and quotations as the Greek Anthology and the famous anthologies of Stobûs and Athanasius and Eusebius give us glimpses of a host of writers more than seven hundred are quoted by Stobseus a very large proportion of whom are quite unknown except through these brief excerpts from their lost works. Quite naturally the scientific works suffered at least as largely as any others in an age given over to ecYet in some regards there clesiastical dreamings. is matter for surprise as to the works preserved. Thus, as we have seen, the very extensive works of
and the equally extensive natural history of Pliny, which were preserved throughout this period, and are still extant, make up relatively bulky volumes. These works seem to have
Aristotle
on natural
history,
interested the
monks
of the Middle Ages, while

scientific
many
much more important

to perish.
books were allowed
considerable bulk of scientific literature
was
also preserved through the curious channels of Arabic and Armenian translations. Reference has already been made to the Almagest of Ptolemy, which, as we have seen, was translated into Arabic, and which was at a later day brought by the Arabs into western Europe and (at the instance of Frederick II of Sicily) translated out of their language into medieval
Latin.
It
remains
to
inquire,
however,
through what
channels the Greek works reached the Arabs themselves.
To gain an answer
9
to this question
we must
follow the stream of history from its
eastward to the new seat of the Here civilization centred from about Byzantium. the fifth century a.d., and here the European came in contact with the civilization of the Syrians, the The Persians, the Armenians, and finally of the Arabs.
Byzantines themselves, unlike the inhabitants of western Europe, did not ignore the literattire of old Greece the Greek language became the regular speech of the Byzantine people, and their writers made a strenuous effort to perpetuate the idiom and style of the classical period. Naturally they also made transcriptions of the classical authors, and thus a great mass of literature was preserved, while the corresponding works were quite forgotten in western
;
Roman course Roman empire in
Europe.
works were translated into Syriac, Armenian, and Persian, and when later on the Byzantine civilization degenerated, many works that were no longer to be had in the Greek originals continued to be widely circulated in Syriac, Persian, Armenian, and, ultimately, in Arabic translations. When the Arabs started out in their conquests, which carried them through Egypt and along the
of these
Meantime many
southern
finally
coast
of
the
Mediterranean,
until
they
of
invaded Europe from the west by
way
Gibraltar, they carried with

of
them
their translations
many
a Greek classical author, the western world

told,
who was
introduced
anew to
channel.
through this strange

that Averrhoes,
We
are
for
example,
lO
the
famous commentator
of Aristotle,
who
lived in Spain
SCIENCE
IN
THE DARK AGE

know
a word of Greek
in the twelfth century, did not
and was obliged to gain his knowledge of the master through a Syriac translation; or, as others alleged (denying that he knew even Syriac), through an Arabic version translated from the Syriac. We know, too, that the famous chronology of Eusebius was preserved through an Armenian translation; and reference has more than once been made to the Arabic translation of Ptolemy's great work, to which we still apply its Arabic title of Almagest. The familiar story that when the Arabs invaded Egypt they burned the Alexandrian library is now regarded as an invention of later times. It seems much more probable that the library had been largely scattered before the coming of the Moslems. Indeed, it has even been suggested that the Christians of an
earlier
day removed the records of pagan thought. Be that as it may, the famous Alexandrian library
had disappeared long before the revival of interest in classical learning. Meanwhile, as we have said, the Arabs, far from destroying the western literature, were
Partly at least because of their regard for the records of the creative work of earlier
its chief preservers.
generations of alien peoples, the Arabs were enabled to outstrip their contemporaries. For it cannot be
in
doubt
that, during that long stretch of time
when
the western world was

of Aristotle
ignoring
science
altogether
or at most contenting itself with the casual reading
and Pliny, the Arabs had the unique
attempting original investigations in science. To them were due all important progressive steps which were made in any scientific field
distinction of
II
whatever for about a thousand years after the time of Ptolemy and Galen. The progress made even by the Arabs during this long period seems meagre enough, yet it has some significant features. These will now demand our attention.
II
MEDI/EVAL SCIENCE
AMONG THE ARABIANS

the
successors of Mohammed showed themselves THE curiously receptive of ideas of the western
they conquered. They came in contact with the Greeks in western Asia and in Egypt, and, as has been said, became their virtual successors in carrying forward the torch of learning. It must not be inferred, however, that the Arabian scholars, as a class, were comparable to their predecessors in creative genius. On the contrary, they retained much of the conservative oriental spirit. They were under the spell of tradition, and, in the main, what they accepted from the Greeks they regarded as almost final in its teaching. There were, however, a few notable expeople
whom
and to these must be ascribed several discoveries of some importance. The chief subjects that excited the interest and exercised the ingenuity of the Arabian scholars were astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. The practical phases of all these subjects were given particular attention. Thus it is well known that our socalled Arabian numerals date from this period. The
ceptions
their of science,
among
men
revolutionary effect of these characters, as applied to practical mathematics, can hardly be overestimated;
but
ted
it is
generally considered
and
in fact
was admit-
by the Arabs
themselves, that these numerals

13
were really borrowed from the Hindoos, with whom the Arabs came in contact on the east. Certain of the Hindoo alphabets, notably that of the Battaks of Sumatra, give us clews to the originals of the numerals. It does not seem certain, however, that the Hindoos employed these characters according to the decimal system, which is the prime element of
their importance.
Knowledge
is
not forthcoming as
was made. was an Arabic innovation, it was perhaps the most important one with which that nation is to be Another mathematical improvement was credited.
to just
If this
when
or
by whom such
application
the introduction into trigonometry of the sine

half-chord of the double arc
the instead of the chord of
the arc
ployed.
itself
which the Greek astronomers had emThis improvement was due to the famous
whose work in other fields we shall examine in a moment. Another evidence of practicality was shown in the Arabian method of attempting to advance upon Eratosthenes' measurement of the earth. Instead of trusting to the measurement of angles, the Arabs decided to measure directly a degree of the earth's Selecting a level plain surface or rather two degrees. experiment, one party of the Mesopotamia for the in
Albategnius,
surveyors progressed northward, another party southward, from a given point to the distance of one degree of arc, as determined by astronomical observations. The result found was fifty-six miles for the northern
and two-third miles for the southwe do not know the precise length of the mile in question, and therefore cannot be assured
degree,
ern.
fifty-six
and
Unfortunately,
14
MEDIi^VAL SCIENCE
AMONG ARABIANS
It is in-
as to the accuracy of the measurement.
teresting to note, however, that the
two degrees were
found of unequal lengths, suggesting that the earth is not a perfect sphere a suggestion the validity of which was not to be put to the test of conclusive measurements until about the close of the eighteenth century. The Arab measurement was made in the time of Caliph Abdallah al-Mamun, the son of the famous Harun-alRashid. Both father and son were famous for their interest in science. Harun-al-Rashid was, it will be recalled, the friend of Charlemagne. It is said that he sent that ruler, as a token of friendship, a marvellous clock which let fall a metal ball to mark the hours. This mechanism, which is alleged to have excited great wonder in the West, furnishes yet another instance of Arabian practicality. Perhaps the greatest of the Arabian astronomers was
Mohammed ben
was born
Jabir Albategnius, or El-batani,
who
at Batan, in Mesopotamia, about the year
850 A.D., and died in 929. Albategnius was a student of the Ptolemaic astronomy, but he was also a pracHe made the important discovery of tical observer.
That is to say, he found that the position of the sun among the stars, at the time of its greatest distance from the earth, was not what it had been in the time of Ptolemy. The Greek astronomer placed the sun in longitude 65, but Albategnius found it in longitude 82, a distance too great to be accounted for by inaccuracy of measurement. The modern inference from this observation is that the solar system is moving through space; but of course this inference could not well be
the motion of the solar apogee.
IS
drawn while the earth was regarded
centre of the universe.
as
the fixed
In the eleventh century another Arabian discoverer,

Arzachel, observing the sun to be less advanced than
Albategnius had found it, inferred incorrectly that the sun had receded in the mean time. The modem explanation of this observation
of Albategnius
is
that the measurement
was somewhat
is
in error, since
we know
Arza-
that the sun's motion

chel,
steadily progressive.
however, accepting the measurement of his prede-
an oscillatory motion motion of the solar system not being permissible. This assumed phenomenon, which really has no existence in point of fact, was named the "trepidation of the fixed stars," and was for centuries accepted as an actual phenomenon. Arzachel explained this supposed phenomenon by assuming that the equinoctial points, or the points of intersection of the equator and the ecliptic, revolve in
cessor,
drew the
false inference of
of the stars, the idea of the
circles of eight degrees' radius.
The
first
points of
cir-
Aries and Libra were supposed to describe the
cumference of these
years.
circles in
about eight hundred

a difficult and false
All of which illustrates
how
take the place of a simple and correct one. The observations of later generations have shown conclusively that the sun's shift of position
explanation
is
may
regularly progressive, hence that there
is
no "trep-
idation" of the stars and no revolution of the equinoctial points.

If the Arabs were wrong as regards this supposed motion of the fixed stars, they made at least one correct observation as to the inequality of motion of
i6
MEDI/EVAL SCIENCE
AMONG ARABIANS
the moon. Two inequalities of the motion of this body were already known. A third, called the moon's variation, was discovered by an Arabian astronomer who lived at Cairo and observed at Bagdad in 975, and who bore the formidable name of Mohammed Aboul Wefaal-Bouzdjani. The inequality of motion in question, in virtue of which the moon moves quickest when she is at new or full, and slowest at the first and third quarter, was rediscovered by Tycho Brahe six
centuries later; a fact which in itself evidences the
neglect of the Arabian astronomer's discovery
by
his
immediate successors. In the ninth and tenth centuries the Arabian city of Cordova, in Spain, was another important centre There was a library of several of scientific influence. hundred thousand volumes here, and a college where mathematics and astronomy were taught. Granada, Toledo, and Salamanca were also important centres, to which students flocked from western Europe. It was the proximit}^ of these Arabian centres that stimulated the scientific interests of Alfonso X. of Castile, at whose instance the celebrated Alfonsine tables were constructed.
familiar
story
records
that
Alfonso,
pondering the complications of the Ptolemaic cycles and epicycles, was led to remark that, had he been consulted at the time of creation, he could have suggested a much better and simpler plan for the imi verse. Some centuries were to elapse before Copernicus was
to show that it was not the plan of the universe, but man's interpretation of it, that was at fault. Another royal personage who came under Arabian
influence
was Frederick
II. of Sicily
the "Wonder of
17
the World," as he was called
by
his contemporaries.
Ptolemy was translated into Latin at his instance, being introduced to the Western world through this curious channel. At this time it became quite usual for the Italian and Spanish scholars to understand Arabic although they were totally ignorant of
of
The Almagest
Greek.
In the
field
of physical science one of the
most
important of the Arabian scientists was Alhazen. His work, published about the year iioo a.d., had great celebrity throughout the mediaeval period. The original investigations of Alhazen had to do largely with optics. He made particular studies of the eye itself, and the names given by him to various parts of the eye, as the vitreous humor, the cornea, and the retina,
are
still
retained
by anatomists.
It is
known
that
Ptolemy had studied the refraction of light, and that he, in common with his immediate predecessors, was aware that atmospheric refraction affects the apparent position of stars near the horizon. Alhazen carried forward these studies, and was led through them
to
make
the
first
phenomena
of twilight
recorded scientific estim.ate of the and of the height of the at-
mosphere. The persistence of a glow in the atmosphere after the sun has disappeared beneath the horizon is so familiar a phenomenon that the ancient philosophers seem not to have thought of it as requiring an explanation. Yet a moment's consideration makes
it
of the sim
if light travels in straight lines and the ra3-s were in no wise deflected, the complete darkness of night should instantly succeed to day when the sun passes below the horizon. That this sudden
clear that,
i8
MEDIAEVAL SCIENCE
reflection of light
AMONG ARABIANS
change does not occur, Alhazen explained as due to the
by the
earth's atmosphere.
Alhazen appears to have conceived the atmosphere as a sharply defined layer, and, assuming that twilight continues only so long as rays of the sun reflected from the outer surface of this layer can reach the spectator at any given point, he hit upon a means of measurement that seemed to solve the hitherto inscrutable problem as to the atmospheric depth. Like the measurements of Aristarchus and Eratosthenes, this calculation of Alhazen is simple enough
in theory.
of fixing its
Its defect consists largely in the difficulty
terms with precision, combined with the
further fact that the rays of the sun, in taking the

slanting course through the earth's atmosphere, are
really deflected
from a straight
density
line in virtue of the
constantly increasing
earth's surface.
this latter fact, since it
of
the
air
near the
Alhazen must have been aware of
was known to the later Alexandrian astronomers, but he takes no account of it in the present measurement. The diagram will make the method of Alhazen clear. His important premises are two first, the well-recognized fact that, when light is reflected from any
:
surface, the angle of incidence of reflection; and, second, the
is
equal to the angle
much more
is
doubtful
nineteen
observation that twilight continues until such time as

the sun, according to a simple calculation,
degrees below the horizon.
let
Referring to the diagram,
the inner circle represent the earth's surface, the
outer circle the limits of the atmosphere,

earth's centre,
and
RR
radii of the earth.
C being the Then the
19
observer at the point
reflected rays of the
will continue to receive the
sun until that body reaches the
point S, which
is,
according to the hypothesis, nineteen
degrees below the horizon line of the observer at A.
This horizon
sun's ray
degrees.
line, being represented by AH, and the by SM, the angle HMS is an angle of nineteen The complementary angle SMA is, obviously,
an angle
degrees.
of
(180 19)
since
one hundred and sixty-one

is
But
is
the reflecting surface and
the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection, the

angle
AMC
an angle
of one-half of one
hundred and
sixty-one degrees, or eighty degrees and thirty minutes.
Now
this angle
AMC,
being known, the right-angled
triangle
MAC
is
easily resolved, since the side

is
AC
of
that triangle, being the radius of the earth, dimension.
known
Resolution of this triangle gives us the length of the hypotenuse MC, and the difference between this and the radius (AC), or CD, is obviously
(h), which was the According to the calculation measurement of Alhazen, this h, or the height of the atmosphere, represents from twenty to thirty miles. The modern computation extends this to about fifty miles. But,
the height of the atmosphere

desired.
considering the various ambiguities that necessarily
attended the experiment, the result was a remarkably close approximation to the truth.
Turning from physics to chemistry, we find as perhaps the greatest Arabian name that of Geber, who taught in the College of Seville in the first half of the eighth century. The most important researches of this really remarkable experimenter had to do with the acids. The ancient world had had no knowledge of
20
DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE ALHAZEN S MEASUREMENT OF THE HEIGHT OF THE ATMOSPHERE

(For explanation see page to. It will be understood, of course, that the disHMS.for example, as shown torted proportions make an angle very inaccurate. in the diagram, is obviously much greater than io. Perhaps it should be added that the angle HMS would not at all serve the purpose to which it is here put were it not that the distance of the sun makes the ray SM virtually parallel to the imaginary line SA, which latter defines the actual angle of the sun's position with regard to the observer at A).
MEDIy^VAL SCIENCE
any acid more powerful than
vastly
AMONG ARABIANS
acetic.
Geber, however,
increased the possibilities of chemical experiment by the discovery of sulphuric, nitric, and He made use also of the processes nitromuriatic acids. of sublimation and filtration, and his works describe the water bath and the chemical oven. Among the important chemicals which he first differentiated is oxide of mercury, and his studies of sulphur in its various compounds have peculiar interest. In particular is this true of his observation that, under certain conditions of oxidation, the weight of a metal was lessened. From the record of these studies in the fields of astronomy, physics, and chemistry, we turn to a somewhat extended survey of the Arabian advances in the
field of
medicine.
ARABIAN MEDICINE
The influence of Arabian physicians rested chiefly upon their use of drugs rather than upon anatomical
knowledge. Like the mediaeval Christians, they looked with horror on dissection of the human body; yet there were always among them investigators who turned constantly to nature herself for hidden truths, and were ready to uphold the superiority of actual observation to mere reading. Thus the physician Abd el-Letif, while in Egypt, made careful studies of a mound of bones containing more than twenty thousand skeletons. While examining these bones he discovered that the lower jaw consists of a single bone, not of two, as had been taught by Galen. He also discovered several other important mistakes in Galenic anatomy, and was so impressed with his discoveries that he
VOL.
II.
21
contemplated writing a work on anatomy which should
correct the great classical authority's mistakes.
It
was the Arabs who invented the apothecary, and
issued from the hospital at Gondisapor, and elaborated from time to time, foiTQed the basis for Western pharmacopoeias. Just how
their pharmacopoeia,
many
borrowed
drugs originated with them, and how many were from the Hindoos, Jews, Syrians, and Persians, cannot be determined. It is certain, however, that through them various new and useful drugs,
such as senna, aconite, rhubarb, camphor, and mercury, were handed down through the Middle Ages, and that they are responsible for the introduction of alcohol in
the field of therapeutics.
In mediaeval Europe, Arabian science came to be regarded with superstitious awe, and the works of certain Arabian physicians were exalted to a position above all the ancient writers. In modern times, however, there has been a reaction and a tendency to depreciation of their work. By some they are held to be mere copyists or translators of Greek books, and in no
sense original investigators in medicine.
Yet there
doubt that while the Arabians did copy and translate freely, they also originated and added
can be
little
considerably
to
medical knowledge.
It
is
certain
that in the time
when
Christian monarchs in western

little
Europe were paying
attention to
science
or
education, the caliphs and vizirs were encouraging
physicians and philosophers,

erecting libraries
creditable
scientific
building
schools,
and
and
hospitals.
They made
at least a
effort
to uphold
and advance upon the
standards of an earlier age.

12
MEDI/EVAL SCIENCE
AMONG ARABIANS
The first distinguished Arabian physician was Harets ben Kaladah, who received his education in the Nestonian school at Gondisapor, about the beginning of the seventh century. Notwithstanding the fact that Harets was a Christian, he was chosen by Mohammed as his chief medical adviser, and recommended as such to his successor, the Caliph Abu Bekr. Thus, at the very outset, the science of medicine was divorced from religion among the Arabians; for if the prophet himself could employ the services of an unbeliever, surely others might follow his example. And that
this
example was followed
is
shown
in the fact that
many
archs.
Christian physicians were raised to honorable
positions
by succeeding generations
of
Arabian mon-
This broad-minded view of medicine taken
by
the Arabs undoubtedly assisted as much as any one single factor in upbuilding the science, just as the
narrow and
superstitious view
it.
taken by Western
nations helped to destroy
The education of the Arabians made it natural for them to associate medicine with the natural sciences, rather than with religion. An Arabian savant was
supposed to be equally well educated in philosophy,
jurisprudence, theology, mathematics,
and medicine, and to practise law, theology, and medicine with equal skill upon occasion. It is easy to understand, therefore, why these religious fanatics were willing to employ unbelieving physicians, and their physicians themselves to turn to the scientific works of Hippocrates and Galen for medical instruction, rather than
to religious works.
fessed
Even Mohammed himself prosome knowledge of medicine, and often relied

23
upon this knowledge in treating ailments rather than upon prayers or incantations. He is said, for example, to have recommended and applied the cautery in
the case of a friend who,
when
suffering
from angina,
had sought
his aid.
eminent Arabian physicians is too long to be given here, but some of them are of such importance in their influence upon later medicine that they cannot be entirely ignored. One of the first of these was Honain ben Isaac (809-873 a.d.), a Christian Arab of Bagdad. He made translations of the works of Hippocrates, and practised the art along the lines indicated by his teachings and those of Galen. He
The
list
of
is
considered the greatest translator of the ninth century and one of the greatest philosophers of that
period.
Another great Arabian physician, whose work was just beginning as Honain's was drawing to a close, was Rhazes (850-923 a.d.), who during his life was no less noted as a philosopher and musician than as a He continued the work of Honain, and physician.
advanced therapeutics by introducing more extensive use of chemical remedies, such as mercurial ointments, sulphuric acid, and aqua vitas. He is also credited with
being the
first
physician to describe small-pox and
measles accurately.
While Rhazes was Abbas (died about
aHve another Arabian, Haly 994), was writing his famous medicine, called The Royal Book. encyclopasdia of But the names of all these great physicians have been considerably obscured by the reputation of Avicenna
still
(980-1037), the Arabian "Prince of Physicians," the
MEDIitVAL SCIENCE
AMONG ARABIANS
greatest name in Arabic medicine, and one of the most remarkable men in histor^^ Leclerc says that "he was perhaps never surpassed by any man in His brilliancy of intellect and indefatigable activity." He was at all times a career was a most varied one.
boisterous reveller, but whether flaunting gayly
among
the guests of an emir or hiding
in
some obscure
apothecary
cellar,
his
work
of philosophical writing
was
carried
on
steadily.
When
a friendly emir was in
power, he taught and wrote and caroused at court; but between times, when some unfriendly ruler was
supreme, he was hiding away obscurely, still pouring out his great mass of manuscripts. In this way his
entire
life
was
spent.
By
his extensive writings
he revived and kept alive
the best of the teachings of the Greek physicians,
adding to them such observations as he had made in anatomy, physiology, and materia medica. Among
his discoveries is that of the contagiousness of pul-
monary
tuberculosis.
His works for several centuries
continued to be looked upon as the highest standard by physicians, and he should undoubtedly be credited with having at least retarded the decline of mediaeval
medicine.
But
it
was not the Eastern Arabs alone who were
Cordova, the capital of the western caliphate, became also a great centre of learning and produced several great physicians. One of these, Albucasis (died in 1013 a.d.), is credited with having published the first illustrated work on surgery, this book being remarkable in still another way, in that it was also the first book, since classical
active in the field of medicine. 25
physician,
from the practical experience of the and not a mere compilation of ancient authors. A century after Albucasis came the great physician Avenzoar (1113-1196), with whom he divides
times, written
about equally the medical honors of the western caliphate. Among Avenzoar's discoveries was that of the cause of "itch" a little parasite, "so small that he is hardly visible." The discovery of the cause of this common disease seems of minor importance now, but it is of interest in medical history because, had Avenzoar's discovery been remembered a hundred years ago, "itch struck in" could hardly have been
considered the cause of three-fourths of

as
it
all
diseases,
was by the famous Hahnemann. The illustrious pupil of Avenzoar, Averrhoes, who died in 1198 a.d., was the last of the great Arabian physicians who, by rational conception of medicine, attempted to stem the flood of superstition that was
overwhelming medicine.
at last the
For a time he succeeded but

;
Moslem theologians prevailed, and he was degraded and banished to a town inhabited only by
the despised Jews.
ARABIAN HOSPITALS
To
early Christians belong the

first
credit
of
having
established the
charitable institutions for caring
for the sick; but their efforts were soon eclipsed by both Eastern and Western Mohammedans. As early as the eighth century the Arabs had begun building hospitals, but the flourishing time of hospital building seems to have begun early in the tenth century. Lady Seidel, in 918 a.d., opened a hospital at Bagdad,
26
MEDIi^VAL SCIENCE
AMONG ARABIANS
endowed with an amount corresponding to about Other three hundred pounds sterling a month.
similar hospitals were erected in the years immediately
following,
tablished
and in 977 the Emir Adad-adaula esan enormous institution with a staff of
officers.
twenty-four medical
The great physician
Rhazes is said to have selected the site for one of these hospitals by hanging pieces of meat in various places about the city, selecting the site near the place at which putrefaction was slowest in making its appearance. By the middle of the twelfth century there were something like sixty medical institutions in Bagdad alone, and these institutions were free to all patients and supported by official charity. The Emir Nureddin, about the year 11 60, founded a great hospital at Damascus, as a thank-offering for
his
victories
over
the
Crusaders.
This
great
in-
overshadowed all the earlier Moslem hospitals in size and in the completeness of its equipment. It was furnished with facilities for teaching, and was conducted for several centuries in a lavish manner, regardless of expense. But little over a century after its foundation the fame of its methods of treatment led to the establishment of a larger and still more luxurious institution the Mansuri hospital It seems that a certain sultan, having been at Cairo. cured by medicines from the Damascene hospital, determined to build one of his own at Cairo which should ecHpse even the great Damascene institution. In a single year (1283-12 84) this hospital was begun and completed. No efforts were spared in hurrying on the good work, and no one was exempt from perstitution
completely
27
forming labor on the building if he chanced to pass one of the adjoining streets. It was the order of the sultan that any person passing near could be impressed into the work, and this order was carried out to the letter, noblemen and beggars alike being forced to lend a hand. Very naturally, the adjacent thoroughfares became unpopular and practically deserted, but still the holy work progressed rapidly and was shortly completed. This immense structure is said to have contained four courts, each having a fountain in the centre;
- halls, wards for isolating certain diseases, and a department that corresponded to the modern hospital's "out-patient" department. The yearly endowment amounted to something like the equivalent of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. A novel feature was a hall where musicians played day and night, and another where story-tellers were employed, so that persons troubled with insomnia were amused and melancholiacs cheered. Those of a religious turn of mind could listen to readings of the Koran, conducted continuously by a staff of some fifty chaplains. Each patient on leaving the hospital received some gold pieces, that he need not be obliged to attempt hard labor at once. In considering the astonishing tales of these sumptuous Arabian institutions, it should be borne in mind that our accounts of them are, for the most part, from Mohammedan sources. Nevertheless, there can be little question that they were enormous institutions, far surpassing any similar institutions in western
lecture
Europe.
The
so-called hospitals in the
West
were, at
28
MEDI/EVAL SCIENCE
this time,
AMONG ARABIANS
branches of monasteries under supervision of
the monks, and did not compare favorably with the
Arabian hospitals. But while the medical science of the Mohammedans greatly overshadowed that of the Christians during this period, it did not completely obliterate it. About the year looo a.d. came into prominence the Christian medical school at Salerno, situated on the Italian coast,
some
it
thirty
miles
southeast of Naples.
Just
long this school had been in existence, or

of greatest influence
how by whom
was founded, cannot be determined, but its period was the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. The members of this school gradually adopted Arabic medicine, making use of many drugs from the Arabic pharmacopoeia, and this
formed one
duction
.
of
the
stepping
stones
all
to
the intro-
of
Arabian
medicine
through western
Europe.
It was not the adoption of Arabian medicines, however, that has made the school at Salerno famous both in rhyme and prose, but rather the fact that women there practised the healing art. Greatest
among them was
lived in the eleventh reputed to have equalled that of the greatest physicians of the day. She is accredited with a work on Diseases of Women, still
Trotula,
who
is
century, and whose learning
extant, and
subjects were quoted through

If
we may
on general medical two succeeding centuries. judge from these writings, she seemed to
of her writings
many
have had many excellent ideas as to the proper methods of treating diseases, but it is difficult to determine just which of the writings credited to her
29
are in reality hers.
greater than
this
Indeed, the uncertainty
is
even
impHes,
for,
according
to
writers, " Trotula" is
merely the title of a book. an authority as Malgaigne, however, believed that such a woman existed, and that the works accredited The truth of the matter may to her are authentic. perhaps never be fully established, but this at least is
the tradition in regard to Trotula could never have arisen had not women held a far different position among the Arabians of this period from that accorded them in contemporary Christendom.
certain
some Such
Ill
MEDI/EVAL SCIENCE
IN
THE WEST
have previously referred to the influence of the Byzantine civilization in transmitting the learning of antiquity across the abysm of the dark It must be admitted, however, that the imporage. tance of that civilization did not extend much beyond the task of the common carrier. There were no great creative scientists in the later Roman empire of the East any more than in the corresponding empire of the West. There was, however, one field in which the Byzantine inade respectable progress and regarding which their This efforts require a few words of special comment.
WE
was the field of medicine. The Byzantines of this time could boast of two great medical men, Aetius of Amida (about 502-575 a.d.) and Paul of .^gina (about 620-690). The works of
Aetius were of value largely because they recorded the teachings of man}^ of his eminent predecessors, but he was not entirely lacking in originality, and was perhaps the first physician to mention diphtheria, with an allusion to some observations of the paralysis of the palate which sometimes follows this
disease.
Paul of ^gina,
who came from

was one
31
the Alexandrian
of those remark-
school about a century later,
able
men whose ideas
are centuries ahead of their time.
This was particularly true of Paul in regard to surgery, and his attitude towards the supernatural in the causation
and treatment
of diseases.
He was
essentially a
surgeon, being particularly familiar with military surgery,
and some
of his descriptions of complicated

little
difficult
operations have been
and improved upon
even in
ear,
modem
times.
In his books he describes such
operations as the removal of foreign bodies from the nose,
and esophagus and he recognizes foreign growths such as polypi in the air-passages, and gives the method of their removal. Such operations as tracheotomy, tonsellotomy, bronchotomy, staphylotomy, etc., were performed by him, and he even advocated and described puncture of the abdominal cavity, giving careful directions as to the location in which such punctures should be made. He advocated amputation of the breast for the cure of cancer, and described extirpation of the
;
uterus.
Just
how
successful this last operation

;
may
have been as performed by him does not appear but he would hardly have recommended it if it had not been sometimes, at least, successful. That he mentions it
at
is
all,
however, is significant, as this difficult operation considered one of the great triumphs of modern
of
surgery.
But Paul
rule
^gina
was
of
is
a striking exception to the
among Byzantine
energies
all
surgeons,
and as he was
so
their
greatest, so he
also their last important surgeon.
The
in
Byzantium were
that
expended
like
religious
controversies
superstitions,
medicine,
influence
the the
other sciences, was soon relegated to a place
among
of
the other
and the
MEDI/EVAL SCIENCE
IN
THE WEST
Byzantine school was presently replaced by that of the conquering Arabians.
THIRTEENTH-CENTURY MEDICINE
marks the beginning of a gradual change in medicine, and a tendency to leave the time-worn rut of superstitious dogmas that so long
thirteenth century
The
retarded the progress of science.
It
is
thought that
the great epidemics which raged during the Middle
Ages acted powerfully in diverting the medical thought of the times into new and entirely different channels. It will be remembered that the teachings of Galen were handed through mediseval times as the highest and best authority on the subject of all diseases. When, however, the great epidemics made their appearance, the medical men appealed to the works of Galen in vain for enlightenment, as these works, having been written several centuries before the time of the plagues, naturally contained no information concerning them. It was evident, therefore, that on this subject, at least, Galen was not infallible and it would naturally follow that, one fallible point having been revealed, others
;
would be sought for. In other words, scepticism in regard to accepted methods would be aroused, and would lead naturally, as such scepticism usually does, to progress. The devastating effects of these plagues, despite prayers and incantations, would arouse doubt
minds of many as to the efficacy of superstitious and ceremonies in curing diseases. They had seen thousands and tens of thousands of their fellowbeings swept away by these awful scourges. They had seen the ravages of these epidemics continue for months
in the
rites
33
or even years, notwithstanding the fact that multitudes of God-fearing people prayed hourly that such
ravages might be checked. And they must have observed also that when even very simple rules of cleanliness and hygiene were followed there was a diminution in the ravages of the plague, even without the aid
Such observations as these would awaken a suspicion in the minds of many of the physicians that disease was not a manifestation of the supernatural, but a natural phenomenon, to be treated by natural methods. But, be the causes what they may, it is a fact that the thirteenth century marks a turning-point, or the beginning of an attitude of mind which resulted in bringing medicine to a much more rational position. Among the thirteenth-century physicians, two men
of incantations.
have a tendency to
are deserving of special mention.

of Villanova (1235-13 12)
These are
of
Amald
and Peter
Abano (1250-
13 1 5).
Both these men
suffered persecution for ex-
pressing their belief in natural, as against the supernatural, causes of disease,
and at one time Amald was for declaring that the Barcelona from obliged to flee " bulls" of popes were human works, and that " acts of He was charity were dearer to God than hecatombs." Fleeing from persecution, also accused of alchemy.
he
finally perished
by shipwreck.
first
Amald was
the
great representative of the
school of Montpellier.
He
devoted
much
in
study of chemicals,
and was active
time to the attempting to
re-establish the teachings of Hippocrates
and Galen. He was one of the first of a long line of alchemists who, for several succeeding centuries, expended so much
34
MEDIEVAL SCIENCE
IN
THE WEST
time and energy in attempting to find the "elixir of life." The Arab discovery of alcohol first deluded him into the belief that the " elixir" had at last been found but later he discarded it and made extensive experiments with brandy, employing it in the treatment of
certain diseases
the
first
record of the administration
Amald also revived the search for some anaesthetic that would produce insensibility to pain in surgical operations. This idea was
of this liquor as a medicine.
not original with him, for since very early times physicians had attempted to discover such an anaesthetic, and even so early a writer as Herodotus tells how the
by inhalation of the vapors of some kind of hemp, produced complete insensibility. It may have been these writings that stimulated Amald to search In a book usually credited for such an anaesthetic. to him, medicines are named and methods of administration described which will make the patient insensible to pain, so that " he may be cut and feel nothing, For this purpose a mixture as though he were dead." of opium, mandragora, and henbane is to be used. This mixture was held at the patient's nostrils much as ether and chloroform are administered by the modem surgeon. The method was modified by Hugo of Lucca (died in 1252 or 1268), who added certain other narcotics, such as hemlock, to the mixture, and boiled a new sponge in this decoction. After boiling for a certain time, this sponge was dried, and when wanted for use was dipped in hot water and applied to the
Scythians,
nostrils.
Just how frequently patients recovered from the administration of such a combination of powerful poisons
35
does not appear, but the percentage of deaths must have been very high, as the practice was generally
condemned. Insensibility could have been produced only by swallowing large quantities of the liquid, which dripped into the nose and mouth when the sponge was applied, and a lethal quantity might thus be swallowed. The method was revived, with various modifications, from time to time, but as often fell into disuse. As late as 1782 it was sometimes attempted, and in that year the King of Poland is said to have been completely anaesthetized and to have recovered, after a painless amputation had been performed by the surgeons. Peter of Abano was one of the first great men produced by the University of Padua. His fate would have been even more tragic than that of the shipwrecked Amald had he not cheated the purifying fagots of the church by dying opportunely on the eve But if his spirit had of his execution for heresy. cheated the fanatics, his body could not, and his bones were burned for his heresy. He had dared to deny the existence of a devil, and had suggested that the case of a patient who lay in a trance for three days might
help to explain
some
miracles,
like
the raising of
Lazarus.
His great work was Conciliator Differ entiarum, an attempt to reconcile physicians and philosophers. But his researches were not confined to medicine, for he seems to have had an inkling of the hitherto unknown
fact that air possesses weight,
and
his calculation of
the length of the year at three hundred and sixty-five days, six hours, and four minutes, is exceptionally accurate for the age in which he lived.
36
He was
probably
MEDI/EVAL SCIENCE
the
first
IN
THE WEST
Western writers to teach that the brain is the source of the nerves, and the heart the source of the vessels. From this it is seen that he was groping in the direction of an explanation of the circulation of the blood, as demonstrated by Harvey three cenof the
turies later.
The work of Arnald and Peter of Abano in "reviving" medicine was continued actively by Mondino (127 6- 1326) of Bologna, the "restorer of anatomy," and by Guy of Chauliac (bom about 1300), the "restorer of surgery." All through the early Middle Ages dissections of human bodies had been forbidden, and even dissection of the lower animals gradually fell into disrepute because physicians detected in such practices were sometimes accused of sorcery. Before the close
had beand dissections gun, physicians were protected, were occasionally sanctioned by the ruling monarch. Thus Emperor Frederick II. (119 4- 1250 a.d.) whose services to science we have already had occasion to mention ordered that at least one human body should be dissected by physicians in his kingdom every five years. By the time of Mondino dissections were becoming more frequent, and he himself is known to have dissected and demonstrated several bodies. His writings on anatomy have been called merely plagiarisms of
of the thirteenth century, however, a reaction
Galen, but in
all
probability he
made many
discoveries
independently, and on the whole, his work
may
be
taken as more advanced than Galen's.

tion of the heart
is
His descrip-
particularly accurate,
and he seems
to have
come nearer
its
to determining the course of the
blood in
VOL.
II.
circulation than
.7/7
any
of his predecessors.
In this quest he was greatly handicapped
tain air as well as blood,
vailing belief in the idea that blood-vessels
and
this led
by the premust conhim to assume
that one of the cavities of the heart contained "spirits," or air. It is probable, however, that his accurate
ping-stones to
lation.
observations, so far as they went, were helpful stepHarvey in his discovery of the circu-
whose innovations in surgery reestablished that science on a firm basis, was not only one of the most cultured, but also the most practical surgeon of his time. He had great reverence for the works of Galen, Albucasis, and others of his noted predecessors but this reverence did not blind him to their mistakes nor prevent him from using rational methods of treatment far in advance of theirs. His practicality is shown in some of his simple but useful inventions for
of Chauliac,
;
Guy
from the
the sick-room, such as the device of a rope, suspended ceiling over the bed, by which a patient may
himself about
some of his improvements in surgical dressings, such as stiffening bandages by dipping them in the white of an egg so that they are held firmly. He treated broken limbs in the suspended cradle still in use, and introduced the method of making "traction" on a broken limb by means of a weight and pulley, to prevent deformity through shortening of the member. He was one of the
easily;
move
more
and
in
first
physicians to recognize the utility of spectacles,
and recommended them in cases not amenable to treatment with lotions and eye-waters. In some of his
surgical operations, such as trephining for fracture of
the skull, his technique has been

38
little
improved upon
MEDIy^VAL SCIENCE
even in
brain.
IN
one
THE WEST
of
modem
times.
In
these
of a
opera-
tions he successfully
removed a portion
man's
Surgery was undoubtedly stimulated greatly at this by the constant wars. Lay physicians, as a class, had been looked down upon during the Dark Ages; but with the beginning of the return to rationalism, the services of surgeons on the battle-field, to remove missiles from wounds, and to care for wounds and apply dressings, came to be more fully appreciated. In return for his labors the surgeon was thus afforded better opportunities for observing wounds and diseases, which led naturally to a gradual improvement in surgical methods.
period
FIFTEENTH-CENTURY MEDICINE
The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had seen some slight advancement in the science of medicine; at least, certain surgeons and physicians, if not the generality, had made advances; but it was not tintil the
fifteenth century that the general revival of medical
became assured. In this movement, naturalthe printing-press played an all-important part. Medical books, hitherto practically inaccessible to the great mass of physicians, now became common, and
learning
ly,
output of reprints of Greek and Arabic treatises many of the supposed true copies were spurious. These discoveries very naturally aroused all manner of doubt and criticism, which in turn helped in the development of independent
this
revealed the fact that
thought.
39
A
the
certain manuscript of the great Cornelius Celsus,
De Medicine, which had been
lost for
many
cen-
was found in the church of Milan, in 1443, and was at once put
turies,
St.
Ambrose, at
into print.
The
effect of the publication of this
hiding for so
many
book, which had lain in centuries, was a revelation, showing
the medical profession
how
far
most
of their supposed
true copies of Celsus had drifted
away from the original.
The indisputable authenticity of this manuscript, discovered and vouched for by the man who shortly after became Pope Nicholas V., made its publication the more impressive. The output in book form of other authorities followed rapidly, and the manifest discrepancies between such teachers as Celsus, Hippocrates,
Galen, and Pliny heightened

spirit of criticism.
still
more the growing
These doubts resulted in great controversies as to the proper treatment of certain diseases, some physicians following Hippocrates, others Galen or Celsus, still others the Arabian masters. One of the most
bitter of these contests
was over the question
of "re-
vulsion,"
and "derivation"
that
is,
whether in cases
disease,
of pleurisy treated
by
bleeding, the venesection should
be made at a point distant from the seat of the

as held
" revulsionists," or at
by the a point nearer and on the same side of the body, as practised by the " derivationists." That any great point for discussion could be raised in the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries on so simple a matter as it seems to-day shows how necessary to the progress of medicine was the discovery of the circulation of the blood made by Harvey two cenAfter Harvey's discovery no such disturies later.
40
MEDI/EVAL SCIENCE
ery
IN
THE WEST
cussion could have been possible, because this discov-
made
it
evident that as far as the general effect

is
upon the
circulation
concerned,
it
made
little differ-
ence whether the bleeding was done near a diseased But in the sixteenth century part or remote from it.
this
question was the all-absorbing one
among the
At one time the faculty of Paris condemned "derivation"; but the supporters of this method carried the war still higher, and Emperor Charles V. himdoctors.
was appealed to. He reversed the decision of the Paris faculty, and decided in favor of "derivation," His decision was further supported by Pope Clement VII., although the discussion dragged on until cut
self
short
by Harvey's discovery. But a new form of injury now claimed the
atten-
tion of the surgeons, something that could be decided
by neither Greek nor Arabian authors, as the treatment of gun-shot wounds was, for obvious reasons, not given in their writings. About this time, also, came the great epidemics, "the sweating sickness"
and scurvy; and. upon these subjects, also, the Greeks and Arabians were silent. John of Vigo, in his book, the Practica Copiosa, published in 15 14, and repeated in many editions, became the standard authority on all these subjects, and thus supplanted the works of the
ancient writers.
According to Vigo, gun-shot wounds differed from

the wounds
made by
arrow, sword, or axe
in that the
its
ordinary weapons
that
is,
spear,
bullet,
being round,
the tissues
;
bruised rather than cut
way through
it
burned the flesh; and, worst of all, it poisoned it, Vigo laid especial stress upon treating this last con41
dition,
oil
recommending the use
of the cautery or the
of elder, boiling hot. It is little wonder that gun-shot wounds were so likely to prove fatal. Yet, after all, here was the germ of the idea of antisepsis.
NEW BEGINNINGS
ical science,
IN
GENERAL SCIENCE
We have dwelt thus at length on the subject of medress
because it was chiefly in this field that progwas made in the Western world during the mediaeval period, and because these studies furnished the point of departure for the revival all along the line. It will be understood, however, from what was stated in the preceding chapter, that the Arabian influences in particular were to some extent making themselves felt along other lines. The opportunity afforded a portion of the Western world notably Spain and Sicily to gain access to the scientific ideas of antiquity through Arabic translations could not fail of influence. Of like character, and perhaps even more pronounced in degree, was the influence wrought by the Byzantine
refugees,
who, when Constantinople began to be threatened by the Turks, migrated to the West in considerable numbers, bringing with
of Greek literature and a large works which for centuries had been quite forgotten or absolutely ignored in Italy. Now Western scholars began to take an interest in the Greek language, which had been utterly neglected since the beginning of the
them a knowledge number of precious
Middle Ages.
forts
Interesting stories are told of the efas
made by such men
Cosmo
de' Medici to gain
possession of classical manuscripts.
The
revival of
42
MEDIEVAL SCIENCE
fluence in the fields of literature
IN
and
THE WEST
first
learning thus brought about had its
art,
permanent inbut its effect
on science could not be long delayed. Quite independently of the Byzantine influence, however, the striving for better intellectual things had manifested itself in many ways before the close of the thirAn illustration of this is found in teenth century. the almost simultaneous development of centres of teaching, which developed into the universities of Italy, France, England, and, a little later, of Ger-
many. The regular

into
list
of studies that
came
to be adopted
everywhere comprised seven nominal branches, divided two groups the so-called quadrivium, comprising music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy; and the trivium comprising grammar, rhetoric, and logic. The vagueness of implication of some of these branches gave opportunity to the teacher for the promulgation of almost any knowledge of which he might be possessed, but there can be no doubt that, in general, science had but meagre share in the curriculum. In so far as it was given representation, its chief field must have been Ptolemaic astronomy. The utter lack of scientific thought and scientific method is illustrated most vividly in the works of the greatest men of that period such men as Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventura, and the hosts of other scholastics of lesser rank. Yet the mental awakening implied in their efforts was sure to extend to other fields, and in point of fact there was at least one contemporary of these great scholastics whose mind was intended towards scientific subjects, and who pro-
43
duced writings strangely at variance in tone and in content with the others. This anachronistic thinker was the English monk, Roger Bacon.
ROGER BACON
Bacon was bom in 12 14 and died in 1292. Bysome it is held that he was not appreciated in his own time because he was really a modem scientist living in an age two centuries before modern science or methods of modem scientific thinking were kno^vn. Such an estimate, however, is a manifest exaggeration
although there is probably a grain of His learning certainly brought him into contact with the great thinkers of the time, and his writings caused him to be imprisoned
of the facts,
truth in
it
withal.
by
his fellow - churchmen at different times, from which circumstances we may gather that he was an advanced thinker, even if not a modern scientist.
Although Bacon was at various times in durance, or under surveillance, and forbidden to write, he was
nevertheless a marvellously prolific writer, as
of his
is
shown
by the numerous books and unpublished manuscripts

still
extant.
Opus Majus.
to
His master-production was the In Part IV. of this work he attempts

sciences rest ultimately
show that
all
on matheis
matics; but Part v., which treats of perspective,

particular interest to
of
modern scientists, because in and refraction, and the reflection discusses this he In this part, also, it properties of mirrors and lenses. is evident that he is making use of such Arabian writers as Alkindi and Alhazen, and this is of especial
44
MEDIi^VAL SCIENCE
interest, since it
IN
THE WEST
has been used by his detractors, who accuse him of lack of originality, to prove that his seeming inventions and discoveries were in reality
adaptations of the Arab scientists.
It is difficult to
determine just how fully such criticisms are justified. It is certain, however, that in this part he describes the anatomy of the eye with great accuracy, and dis-
and lenses. The magnifying power of the segment of a glass sphere had been noted by Alhazen, who had observed also that the magnification was increased by increasing the size of the segment used. Bacon took up the
cusses mirrors
discussion of the comparative advantages of segments,
and
in this discussion seems to
show that he under-
stood
how
to trace the progress of the rays of light
through a spherical transparent body, and how to determine the place of the image. He also described a method of constructing a telescope, but it is by no means clear that he had ever actually constructed such an instrument. It is also a mooted question as to whether his instructions as to the construction of such an instrument would have enabled any one to construct one. The vagaries of the names of terms as he uses them allow such latitude in interpretation that modern scientists are not agreed as to the practicability of Bacon's suggestions. For example, he constantly refers to force under such names as virtus, species, imago, agentis, and a score of other names, and
this naturally gives rise to the great differences in the
interpretations
of
his
writings,
with corresponding
differences in estimates of them.
The claim that Bacon
originated the use of lenses,
45
form of spectacles, cannot be proven. Smith has determined that as early as the opening years of the fourteenth century such lenses were in use, but this proves nothing as regards Bacon's connection with their invention. The knowledge of lenses seems to be very ancient, if we may judge from the convex lens
in the
found by Layard in his excavations There is nothing to show, however, that the ancients ever thought of using them to correct
of rock crystal
at Nimrud.
defects of vision.
Neither, apparently,
is it
feasible to
determine whether the idea of such an application originated with Bacon. Another mechanical discovery about which there has been a great deal of discussion is Bacon's supposed invention of gunpowder. It appears that in a certain passage of his work he describes the process of making a substance that is, in effect, ordinary gunpowder; but it is more than doubtful whether he understood the properties of the substance he describes. It is fairly well established, however, that in Bacon's time gunpowder was known to the Arabs, so that it should not be surprising to find references made to it in Bacon's work, since there is reason to believe that he constantly consulted Arabian writings.
The
great merit of Bacon's work, however, depends
on the principles taught as regards experiment and the observation of nature, rather than on any single invention. He had the all-important idea of breaking with tradition. He championed unfettered inquiry in every field of thought. He had the instinct of a scientific worker a rare instinct indeed in that age.
46
MEDIAEVAL SCIENCE
IN
THE WEST
Nor need we doubt that to the best of his opportunities he was himself an original investigator.
LEONARDO DA VINCI
The relative infertility of Bacon's thought is shown by the fact that he founded no school and left no trace of discipleship. The entire century after his death shows no single European name that need claim the
attention of the historian of science.
of a renaissance of science
In the latter
is
part of the fifteenth century, however, there
evidence
no less than of art. The German Miiller became famous under the latinized named of Regio Montanus (143 7-1 47 2), although his actual scientific attainments would appear to have been important only in comparison with the utter ignorance of his contemporaries. The most distinguished worker of the new era was the famous Italian Leonardo da Vinci a man who has been called by Hamerton the most universal genius that ever
Leonardo's position in the history of art is known to every one. With that, of course, we have no present concern; but it is worth our while to inquire at some length as to the famous painter's accomplishments as a scientist.
lived.
From a passage in the works of Leonardo, first brought to light by Venturi,^ it would seem that the great painter anticipated Copernicus in determining the movement of the earth. He made mathematical calculations to prove this, and appears to have reached
what amounts
not
the definite conclusion that the earth does move or to the same thing, that the sun does
move.
Miintz
is
authority for the statement that

47
in one of his writings he declares,
mouve"
the sun does not move.^
"II sole non
si
Among his inventions is a dynamometer for determining the traction power of machines and animals, and his experiments with steam have led some of his
enthusiastic partisans to claim for
him
priority to
In these experiments, however, Leonardo seems to have advanced little beyond Hero of Alexandria and his steam toy. Hero's steam-engine did nothing but rotate itself by virtue of escaping jets of steam forced from the bent tubes, while Leonardo's " steam-engine " "drove a ball weighing one talent over a distance of six stadia." In a manuscript now in the library of the
Institut de France,
Watt
in the invention of the steam-engine.
Da
Vinci describes this engine
minutely.
The
action of this machine was due to the
sudden conversion of small quantities of water into steam ("smoke," as he called it) by coming suddenly in contact with a heated surface in a proper receptacle, the rapidly formed steam acting as a propulsive force after the manner of an explosive. It is really a steamgun, rather than a steam-engine, and it is not unlikely that the study of the action of gunpowder may have
suggested
of
it
to Leonardo.
Leonardo is the true discoverer camera - obscura, although the Neapolitan philosopher, Giambattista Porta, who was not born until some twenty years after the death of Leonardo,
It is believed that
the
is
usually credited with

is
first
describing this device.
There
little
doubt, however, that
Da
Vinci under-
stood the principle of this mechanism, for he describes
how such a camera can be made by

48
cutting a small,
MEDIi^VAL SCIENCE
IN
THE WEST
rotind hole through the shutter of a darkened room,
the reversed image of objects outside being shown on
the opposite wall.
he had observed a great number of facts which he was unable to explain correctly. But such accumulations of scientific observations are always interesting, as showing how many centuries of observation frequently precede He observed many facts about correct explanation. sounds, among others that blows struck upon a bell produced sympathetic sounds in a bell of the same kind; and that striking the string of a lute produced vibration in corresponding strings of lutes strung to the same pitch. He knew, also, that sounds could be heard at a distance at sea by listening at one end of a tube, the other end of which was placed in the water and that the same expedient worked successfully on land, the end of the tube being placed against the
Like other philosophers in
all ages,
ground.
The knowledge
of this great
number
of
unexplained
of
facts is often interpreted
by the admirers
Da
Vinci,
as showing an almost occult insight into science
many
centuries in advance of his time.
Such interpretations,
however, are illusive. The observation, for example, that a tube placed against the ground enables one to
in itself evidence of
hear movements on the earth at a distance, is not anything more than acute scientific observation, as a similar method is in use among
almost every race of savages, notably the American On the other hand, one is inclined to give Indians. credence to almost any story of the breadth of knowledge of the man who came so near anticipating Hutton,
49
and Darwin in his interpretation of the geological records as he found them written on the rocks. It is in this field of geology that Leonardo is entitled
Lyell,
to the greatest admiration
by modem
scientists.
He
had observed the deposit of fossil shells in various strata of rocks, even on the tops of mountains, and he
rejected once for all the theory that they
had been
deposited there
by the Deluge.
He rightly interpreted
had once been
This process he
of cen-
their presence as evidence that they
deposited at the bottom of the sea.

turies,
assumed had taken hundreds and thousands

to the date of the creation. to the investigations of Leonardo,
thus tacitly rejecting the biblical tradition as
Notwithstanding the obvious interest that attaches it must be admitted that his work in science remained almost as infertile as that of his great precursor, Bacon. The really stimulative work of this generation was done by a man of affairs, who knew little of theoretical science except in one line, but who pursued that one practical line until he achieved a wonderful result. This man was Christopher Columbus. It is not necessary here to tell the trite story of his accomplishment. Suffice it that his practical demonstration of the rotundity of the earth is regarded by most modern writers as marking an epoch in history. With the year of his voyage the epoch of the Middle Ages is usually regarded as coming It must not be supposed that any very to an end. sudden change came over the* aspect of scholarship of the time, but the preliminaries of great things had been achieved, and when Columbus made his famous voyage in 1492, the man was already alive who was
50
MEDIEVAL SCIENCE
to bring forward the
first
IN
THE WEST
great vitalizing thought in
the field of pure science that the Western world had
more than a thousand years. This bore the name of Kopernik, or in its familiar Anglicized form, Copernicus. His life work and that of his disciples will claim our attention in the succeeding chapter.
originated for
man
IV
THE NEW COSMOLOGY COPERNICUS TO KEPLER AND GALILEO
WE
have seen that the Ptolemaic astronomy, which was the accepted doctrine throughout the Midis
dle Ages, taught that the earth
round.
Doubtless
this
there was a popular opinion current which regarded
the earth as
flat,
but
it
must be understood that
opinion had no champions
during the Middle Ages.
among men of science When, in the year 1492,
Columbus sailed out to the west on his memorable voyage, his expectation of reaching India had full scientific warrant, however much it may have been
scouted
by
certain ecclesiastics
and by the average
man of the period.
Nevertheless,
we may well suppose

still
that the successful voyage of Columbus, and the
more demonstrative one made about by Magellan, gave the theory of the
thirty years later
earth's rotundity a certainty it could never previously have had. Alexandrian geographers had measured the size of the earth,
and had not hesitated to assert that by sailing westward one might reach India. But there is a wide gap between theory and practice, and it required the voyages of Columbus and his successors to bridge
that gap.
After the companions of Magellan completed the circumnavigation of the globe, the general shape of
52
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

our earth would, obviously, never again be called in But demonstration of the sphericity of the question. earth had, of course, no direct bearing upon the question of the earth's position in the universe.
fore the
voyage of Magellan served to
fortify,
Thererather
than to dispute, the Ptolemaic theory. According to that theory, as we have seen, the earth was supposed to lie immovable at the centre of the universe; the various heavenly bodies, including the sun, revolving about it in eccentric circles. We have seen that several of the ancient Greeks, notably Aristarchus, disputed this conception, declaring for the
and the motion of the earth and other planets about that body. But this revolutionary theory seemed so opposed to the ordinary observation that, having been discountenanced by Hipparchus and Ptolemy, it did not find a single important champion for more than a thousand years after the time of the last great Alexcentral position of the sun in the universe,
andrian astronomer.
The
first
man, seemingly, to hark back
to
the that
Aristarchian conception in the

of Cusa,
new
scientific era
was now dawning was the noted
cardinal, Nikolaus
who
lived in the first half of the fifteenth
century,
writer
and was distinguished as a philosophical and mathematician. His De Docta Ignorantia
expressly propoiinds the doctrine of the earth's motion.
No
one, however, paid the slightest attention to his
suggestion, w^hich, therefore, merely serves to furnish
us with another interesting illustration of the futility of propounding even a correct hypothesis before the
time
is
ripe to receive it
particularly
53
if
the hypoth-
voL. 11.-5
esis is not fully fortified by reasoning based on experiment or observation.
The man who was destined to put forward the theory of the earth's motion in a way to command attention was bom in 1473, at the village of Thorn, in eastern Prussia. His name was Nicholas Copernicus.
tire
There
is
no more famous name

this,
in
the en-
yet posterity has never been able fully to establish the lineage of the famous expositor of the true doctrine of the solar
system. The city of Thorn lies in a province of that border territory which was then under control of Poland, but which subsequently became a part of Prussia. It is claimed that the aspects of the city were essentially German, and it is admitted that the
annals of science than
mother
Copernicus belonged to that race. The is more in doubt, but it is urged that Copernicus used German as his mothertongue. His great work was, of course, written in
of
nationality of the father
Latin, according to the

said
that,
custom
of the time;
but
it is
when not employing that language, he always wrote in German. The disputed nationality of Copernicus strongly suggests that he came of a mixed racial lineage, and we are reminded again of the inf]uences of those ethnical minglings to which we have previously more than once referred. The acknowledged centres of civilization towards the close of the were Italy and Spain. Therefore, the birthplace of Copernicus lay almost at the confines of civilization, reminding us of that earlier period when Greece was the centre of culture, but when the great Greek thinkers were born in Asia Minor and in Italy.
fifteenth century
54
NICOLAUS COPERNICUS
(From the painting
in possession of the
Royal Society
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

As a young man, Copernicus made
Vienna
to
his
way
to
and subsequently he journeyed into Italy and remained there many years. About the year 1500 he held the chair of mathematics Subsequently he rettrrned to in a college at Rome. his native land and passed his remaining years there, dying at Domkerr, in Frauenburg, East Prussia, in the
study
medicine,
year 1543.
would appear that Copernicus conceived the idea system of the universe while he was a comparatively young man, since in the introduction to his great work, which he addressed to Pope Paul III., he states that he has pondered his system not merely nine years, in accordance with the maxim of Horace, but Throughout well into the fourth period of nine years.
It
of the heliocentric
of Copernicus
a considerable portion of this period the great work was in manuscript, but it was not pub-
lished until the year of his death.
The reasons
for
Copernicus undoubtedly taught his system throughout the later decades of his life. He himself tells us that he had
the delay are not very fully established.
even questioned whether
it
were not better for him to

Just as his
life
confine himself to such verbal teaching, following thus
the example of Pythagoras.
was
drawing to a close, he decided to pursue the opposite course, and the first copy of his work is said to have been placed in his hands as he lay on his deathbed.
which the new system met from ecclesiastical sources led subsequent commentators to suppose that Copernicus had delayed publication of his work through fear of the church authorities,
The
violent opposition
55
There seems, however, to be no direct evidence for It has been thought significant that this opinion. Copernicus addressed his work to the pope. It is, of course, quite conceivable that the aged astronomer might wish by this means to demonstrate that he wrote in no spirit of hostiHty to the church. His address to the pope might have been considered as a desirable shield precisely because the author recognized that his work must needs meet with ecclesiastical criticism. Be that as it may, Copernicus was removed by death from the danger of attack, and it remained for his disciples of a later generation to run
the gauntlet of criticism and suffer the charges of
heresy.
The work
of Copernicus, published thus in the year
1543 at Nuremberg, bears the title tium- Revolutionihus

It is
De Orbium
Coeles-
not necessary to go into details as to the cosit
mological system which Copernicus advocated, since

is
familiar to every one.

all
In a word, he supposed the

the planetary motions, the
the other planets, the Hst
sun to be the centre of

earth taking
of which, as
its
place
among
known
at that time, comprised Mercury,
Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The fixed stars were alleged to be stationary, and it was necessary to suppose that they are almost infinitely distant, inasmuch as they showed to the observers of that time no parallax; that is to say, they preserved the same apparent position when viewed from the opposite points of the earth's orbit.
But let us allow Copernicus to speak for himself regarding his system. His exposition is full of interest,
56
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

We
quote
first
is
the introduction just referred
to, in
which appeal
" I
made
directly to the pope.
can well believe, most holy father, that certain people, when they hear of my attributing motion to the earth in these books of mine, will at once declare that such an opinion ought to be rejected. Now, my own theories do not please me so much as not to conAccordingly, sider what others may judge of them. when I began to reflect upon what those persons who accept the stability of the earth, as confirmed by the opinion of many centuries, would say when I claimed that the earth moves, I hesitated for a long time as to whether I should publish that which I have written to demonstrate its motion, or whether it would not be better to follow the example of the Pythagoreans, who used to hand down the secrets of philosophy to their relatives and friends only in oral form. As I well considered all this, I was almost impelled to put the finished work wholly aside, through the scorn I had reason to anticipate on account of the newness and apparent contrariness to reason of my theory. "My friends, however, dissuaded me from such a course and admonished me that I ought to publish my book, which had lain concealed in my possession not only nine years, but already into four times the ninth year. Not a few other distinguished and very learned men asked me to do the same thing, and told me that I ought not, on account of my anxiety, to delay any
longer in consecrating
my
work
to the general service
of mathematicians. " But your holiness will perhaps not so
much wonder
57
have dared to bring the results of my night labors to the light of day, after having taken so much care in elaborating them, but is waiting instead to hear how it entered my mind to imagine that the earth moved, contrary to the accepted opinion of mathematicians
that
I
ing.
nay, almost contrary to ordinary human understandTherefore I will not conceal from your holiness
that what
moved me
to consider another
way
of reck-
oning the motions of the heavenly bodies was nothing else than the fact that the mathematicians do not agree with one another in their investigations. In the first place, they are so uncertain about the motions of the sun and moon that they cannot find out the length of a full year. In the second place, they apply
and effect, in determining the motions of the sun and moon and of the five planets, nor the same proofs. Some employ only concentric circles, others use eccentric and epicyclic ones,
neither the
same laws
of cause
with which, however, they do not fully attain the desired end. They could not even discover nor compute the main thing namely, the form of the universe and the symmetry of its parts. It was with them as if some should, from different places, take hands, feet, head, and other parts of the body, which, although very beautiful, were not drawn in their proper relations, and, without making them in any way correspond, should construct a monster instead of a human being. "Accordingly, when I had long reflected on this uncertainty of mathematical tradition, I took the trouble to read again the books of all the philosophers I could get hold of, to see if some one of them had not once believed that there were other motions of the heavenly
58
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

found in Cicero that Niceties had believed in the motion of the earth. Afterwards I found in Plutarch, likewise, that some others had held the same opinion. This induced me also to begin to consider the movability of the earth, and, although the theory appeared contrary to reason, I did so because I knew that others before me had been allowed to assume
bodies.
First I
I was of the might be permitted to see whether, by presupposing motion in the earth, more reliable conclusions than hitherto reached could not be discovered for the rotary motions of the spheres. And thus, acting on the hypothesis of the motion which, in
movements at will, in order phenomena of these celestial bodies.

rotary
to explain the
opinion that
I,
too,
I ascribe to the earth, and by long and continued observations, I have finally discovered that if the motion of the other planets be carried over to the relation of the earth and this is made the basis
the following book,
for the rotation of every star, not only will the phe-
nomena
of the planets
be explained thereby, but also

;
the laws and the size of the stars
all their
spheres and
the heavens themselves will appear so harmoniously
connected that nothing could be changed in any part of them without confusion in the remaining parts and in the whole universe. I do not doubt that clever and
learned
to
men
will agree
with
me
if
they are willing fully
comprehend and to consider the proofs which I advance in the book before us. In order, however, that both the learned and the unlearned may see that I fear no man's judgment, I wanted to dedicate these, my night labors, to your holiness, rather than to any one else, because you, even in this remote corner of the
59
earth where
of station
I live,
are held to be the greatest in dignity
and
in love for all sciences
and
for
matics, so that you, through your position
matheand judg-
ment, can easily suppress the bites of slanderers, although the proverb says that there is no remedy against the bite of calumny."
In chapter X. of book
system, as follows:
I.,
"On
the Order of the
Spheres," occurs a more detailed presentation of the
"That which Martianus
Capella,
and a few other

extremely note-
Latins, very well knew, appears to
me
worthy. He believed that Venus and Mercury revolve about the sun as their centre and that they cannot go farther away from it than the circles of their orbits permit, since they do not revolve about the earth like the other planets. According to this theory, then. Mercury's orbit would be included within that of Venus, which is more than twice as great, and would find room enough within it for its revolution, " If, acting upon this supposition, we connect Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars with the same centre, keeping in mind the greater extent of their orbits, which include the earth's sphere besides those of Mercury and Venus, we cannot fail to see the explanation of the regular order of their motions. He is certain that Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars are always nearest the earth when they rise in the evening that is, when they appear over
against the sun, or the earth stands between
them and
the sun
but that they are farthest from the earth when

that
is,
they set in the evening
when we have the sun
60
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

between them and the earth.
This proves sufficiently
that their centre belongs to the sun and is the same about
which the orbits of Venus and Mercury circle. Since, however, all have one centre, it is necessary for the space intervening between the orbits of Venus and Mars to include the earth with her accompanying moon and all that is beneath the moon for the moon, which stands unquestionably nearest the earth, can in no way be separated from her, especially as there is sufficient
;
room
for the
moon
in the aforesaid space.
Hence we
do not hesitate to claim that the whole system, which includes the moon with the earth for its centre, makes the round of that great circle between the planets, in yearly motion about the sun, and revolves about the centre of the universe, in which the sun rests motionless, and that all which looks like motion in the sun is explained by the motion of the earth. The extent of the imiverse, however, is so great that, whereas the distance of the earth from the sun is considerable in comparison with the size of the other planetary orbits, it disappears when- compared with the sphere of the I hold this to be more easily comprehenfixed stars. sible than when the mind is confused by an almOvSt endless number of circles, which is necessarily the case with those V\/"ho keep the earth in the middle of the uniAlthough this may appear incomprehensible verse.
and contrary to the opinion

wills,
of
many,
I shall, if
make it
clearer
are not ignorant of

"
than the sun, at mathematics.
least to those
God who
and
is
The order
of the spheres is as follows
The
first
lightest of all the spheres is that of the fixed stars,
which includes
itself
and
6i
all
others,
and hence
motion and position
motionless as the place in the universe to which the of all other stars is referred.
"Then
completes
;
follows the outermost planet, Saturn,

its
which
revolution around the sun in thirty
years next comes Jupiter with a twelve years' revolution; then Mars, which completes its course in two
years.
The fourth one
in order is the yearly revolution
which includes the earth with the moon's orbit as an In the fifth place is Venus with a revolution epicycle. The sixth place is taken by Mercury, of nine months. which completes its course in eighty days. In the middle of all stands the sun, and who could wish to place the lamp of this most beautiful temple in another
Thus, in fact, the sun, seated upon the royal throne, controls the family of the stars which We find in their order a harmonicircle around him. ous connection which cannot be found elsewhere. Here the attentive observer can see why the waxing and waning of Jupiter seems greater than with Saturn and smaller than with Mars, and again greater with
or better place.
Venus than with Mercury. Also, why Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars are nearer to the earth when they rise in the
sun.
evening than when they disappear in the rays of the More prominently, however, is it seen in the case
appears in the heavens at night, seems to equal Jupiter in size, but soon afterwards is fotmd among the stars of second magnitude. All of this results from the same cause namely, from the
of Mars,
it
which when
fact that nothing of this is to be seen in the case of the fixed stars is a proof of their immeasurable distance, which makes even the orbit of
earth's motion.
The
yearly motion or
its
counterpart invisible to us."^

62
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

The fact that the stars show no parallax had been regarded as an important argument against the motion of the earth, and it was still so considered by the
opponents of the system of Copernicus. It had, indeed, been necessary for Aristarchus to explain the fact as due to the extreme distance of the stars; a perfectly correct explanation, but one that implies
distances
that
are altogether inconceivable.
It re-
mained
for nineteenth -century astronomers to show,
with the aid of instruments of greater precision, that
have a parallax. But long before this demionstration had been brought forward, the system of Copernicus had been accepted as a part of
certain of the stars
common
knowledge.
While Copernicus postulated a cosmical scheme that was correct as to its main features, he did not altogether break away from certain defects of the Ptolemaic hypothesis. Indeed, he seems to have retained
as
much
of this as practicable, in deference to
the
prejudice of his time.

orbits as circular,
Thus he records the planetary and explains their eccentricities by
resorting to the theory of epic^^cles, quite after the
Ptolemaic method.
But now,
of course, a
much more
simple mechanism sufficed to explain the planetary

motions, since the orbits were correctly referred to
the central sun and not to the earth.
Needless to say, the revolutionary conception of Copernicus did not meet with immediate acceptance. A number of prominent astronomers, however, took it
up almost at once, among these being Rhseticus, who wrote a commentary on the evolutions Erasmus Reinhold, the author of the Prutenic tables; Rothmann,
;
63
astronomer to the Landgrave of Hesse, and Maestlin,
the instructor of Kepler.
The Prutenic
tables, just
referred to, so called because of their Prussian origin,
were considered an improvement on the tables of Copernicus, and were highly esteemed by the astronoThe commentary of Rhseticus mers of the time. gives us the interesting information that it was the observation of the orbit of Mars and of the very great difference between his apparent diameters at different times which first led Copernicus to conceive the heliocentric idea. Of Reinhold it is recorded that he considered the orbit of ]\Iercury elliptical, and that he advocated a theor^^ of the moon, according to which her epicycle revolved on an elliptical orbit, thus in a measure anticipating one of the great discoveries of Kepler to which we shall refer presently. The Landgrave of Hesse was a practical astronomer, who produced a catalogue of fixed stars which has been compared with that of Tycho Brahe. He was assisted
by Rothmann and by Justus

preceptor of Kepler,
first
is
modem
Byrgius. Maestlin, the reputed to have been the observer to give a correct explanation of
sun.
the light seen on portions of the

illumined
to
an}'-
by the
proper light of light refrom the earth. Certain of the Greek philosophers, however, are said to have given the same
flected
moon not He explained this as the moon itself, but as
directly
not due
explanation, and it is alleged also that Leonardo da Vinci anticipated Maestlin in this regard.^
While various astronomers of some eminence thus gave support to the Copemican system, almost from the beginning, it unfortunately chanced that bv far
64
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

the most
famous
of
the
immediate successors of
Copernicus dechned to accept the theory of the earth's motion. This was Tycho Brahe, one of the greatest
observing astronomers of any age. Tycho Brahe was a Dane, born at Knudstrup in the year 1546. He
died in 1601 at Prague, in Bohemia.
siderable portion of his
life
During a conhe found a patron in

assisted
Frederick,
King
of
Denmark, who
him
to build
a splendid observatory on the Island of Huene. On the death of his patron Tycho moved to Germany, where, as good luck would have it, he came in contact with the youthful Kepler, and thus, no doubt, was instrumental in stimulating the ambitions of one who in later years was to be known as a far greater theorist
than himself. As has been said, Tycho rejected the Copernican theory of the earth's motion. It should be added, however, that he accepted that part of the Copernican theory which makes the sun the centre of all the planetary motions, the earth being excepted. He thus developed a system of his own, which was in some sort a compromise between the Ptolemaic and the Copernican systems. As Tycho conceived it, the sun revolves about the earth, carrying with it the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, which planets have the sun and not the earth as the centre of their orbits. This cosmical scheme, it should be added, ma}^ be made to explain the observed motions of the heavenly bodies, but it involves a much more complex mechanism than is postulated by the Copernican theory.
.
Various explanations have been offered of the con65
servatism which held the great Danish astronomer
back from
as
full
acceptance of the relatively simple and,

correct
we now know,
Copemican
doctrine.
From
our latter-day point of view, it seems so mûch more natural to accept than to reject the Copemican system,
that
we
find it difficult to
put ourselves in the place
Yet if we recall that the traditional view, having warrant of acceptance by nearly all thinkers of every age, recorded the earth as a fixed, immovable body, wê shall see that our
of a sixteenth-century observer.
surprise should be excited rather by the thinker who can break away from this view than by the one who
tends to cling to it. Moreover, it is useless to attempt to disguise the fact that something more than a mere vague tradition was supposed to support the idea of the earth's overshadowing importance in the cosmical scheme. The sixteenth - century mind was overmastered by the
still
was a dangerous heresy to doubt that the Hebrew writings, upon which ecclesiasticism based its claim, contained the last word regarding matters of science. But the writers of the Hebrew text had been under the influence of that Babylonian conception of the universe which accepted the earth as unqualifiedl}^ central ^which, indeed, had
tenets of ecclesiasticism,
it
and
never so
much
as conceived a contradictory hypothesis
and
so the
Western world, which had come to accept
these writings as actually supernatural in origin, lay
under the spell of Oriental ideas of a pre-scientific era. In our own day, no one speaking with authority thinks of these Hebrew writings as having any scientific weight whatever. Their interest in this regard is purely antiquarian; hence from our changed point of
66
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

view it seems scarcely credible that Tycho Brahe can have been in earnest when he quotes the Hebrew traditions as proof that the sun revolves about the earth. Yet we shall see that for almost three centuries after the time of Tycho, these same dreamings continued to be cited in opposition to those scientific advances which new observations made necessary; and
this notwithstanding the fact that the Oriental phras-
ing
is,
for the
most
part, poetically
ambiguous and
susceptible of shifting interpretations, as the criticism
amply testified. Tycho Brahe, great observer as he was, could not shake himself free from the Oriental incubus. He began his objections, then, to the Copemican system by quoting the adverse testimony of a Hebrew prophet who lived more than a thousand years B.C. All of this shows sufficiently that Tycho 'Brahe was not a great theorist. He was essentially an observer, but in this regard he won a secure place in the very first rank. Indeed, he was easily the
of successive generations has
As we have
said,
greatest observing- astronomer since Hipparchus, be-
resemblance.
himself there were many points of Hipparchus, it will be recalled, rejected the Aristarchian conception of the universe just as
tween
whom and
Tycho rejected the conception of Copernicus. But if Tycho propounded no great generalizations, the list of specific advances due to him is a long one, and some of these were to prove important aids in the hands of later workers to the secure demonstration of the Copernican idea. One of his most important series of studies had to do with comets. Regarding these bodies there had been the greatest uncertainty
67
in the of
The greatest variety them prevailed; they were thought on the one hand to be divine messengers, and on the other to be merely igneous phenomena of the earth's atmosphere. Tycho Brahe declared that a comet which he observed in the year 1577 had no parallax, proving its extreme distance. The obminds
of astronomers.
opinions
regarding
orbits,
served course of the comet intersected the planetary which fact gave a quietus to the long-mooted
question as to whether the Ptoleinaic spheres were transparent solids or merely imaginary; since the
comet was seen to
intersect these alleged spheres,
it
wâs obvious that they could not
be the solid substance that they were commonly imagined to be, and this fact in itself went far towards discrediting the Ptolemaic system. It should be recalled, however,
that
this
supposition
of
tangible
spheres
for
the
various planetary and stellar orbits was a mediseval

interpretation of Ptolemy's theory rather than
an
interpretation of Ptolemy himself, there being nothing
show that the Alexandrian astronomer regarded his cycles and epicycles as other than theoretical. An interesting practical discovery made by Tycho was his method of determining the latitude of a place by means of two observations made at an interval of twelve hours. Hitherto it had been necessary to observe the sun's angle on the equinoctial days, a period of six months being therefore required. Tycho measured the angle of elevation of some star situated near the pole, when on the meridian, and then, twelve
to
hours
later,
measured the angle of elevation of the

it
same
star
when
again came to the meridian at the

68
TYCHO BRAKE
(From Dannemann's
QUADRANT
Geschichie der Naturwissenschafien.)
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

opposite point of
star.
its apparent circle about the poleHalf the suni of these angles gives the latitude
of the place of observation.
As
it
illustrating the accuracy of T^xho's observations,
noted that he rediscovered a third inequality moon's motion at its variation, he, in common with other European astronomers, being then quite imaware that this inequality had been observed by an Arabian astronomer. Tycho proved also that the angle of inclination of the moon's orbit to the ecliptic
of the
is
may be
subject to slight variation.
The very brilliant new star which shone forth suddenly in the constellation of Cassiopeia in the year 1572, was miade the object of special studies by Tycho,
who proved
that the star had no sensible parallax
and consequently was far beyond the planetary regions. The appearance of a new star was a phenomenon not
unknown
to the ancients,
since Pliny records that
Hipparchus was led by such an appearance to make

his catalogue of the fixed stars.
is sufficiently
But the phenomenon

in
uncommon
to attract tinusual attention.
year 1604, when the new star in this case appearing in the constellation of Serpentarius ^was explained by Kepler as probably proceeding from a vast combustion. in which Kepler is said to have This explanation followed Tycho is fully in accord with the most recent
similar
phenomenon occurred
the
theories
on the
subject, as
we
shall see in
due course.
hear Tycho credited with so startling theory, but, on the other hand, such an explanation is a precisely what should be expected from the other For Johann Kepler, or, as he astronomer named.
It is surprising to
VOL.
II.
50
named, Johann von Kappel, was one of the most speculative astronomers of any age. He was forever theorizing, but such was the peculiar
was
originally
his theories never satisfied he could put them to the test of observation. Thanks to this happy combination of qualities, Kepler became the discoverer of three famous laws of planetary motion which lie at the very foimdation of modem astronomy, and which were to be largely instrumental in guiding Newton to his still greater generalization. These laws of planetar^^ motion were vastly important as corroborating the Copemican theory of the universe, though their position in this regard was not immediately recognized by contemporary thinkers. Let us examine with some detail into their discovery, meantime catching a glimpse of the life history of the remarkable man w^hose name they bear.
quality of his
mind that
him
for long unless
JOHANN KEPLER AND THE LAWS OF PLANETARY MOTION

Johann Kepler was born the 27th of December, He in the little town of Weil, in Wiirtemburg. was a weak, sickly child, further enfeebled by a severe attack of small-pox. It would seem paradoxical to
1 5 71,
assert that the parents of vSuch a genius were mismated, but their home was not a happy one, the mother being of a nervous temperament, which perhaps in some measure accounted for the genius of the child. The father led the life of a soldier, and finally perished in the campaign against the Turks. Young Kepler's studies were directed with an eye to the ministiy. After a preliminary training he attended the university at
70
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

Tubingen, where he came under the influence of the
celebrated Maestlin and became his life-long friend.
Curiously enough,
had no
taste for
it is recorded that at first Kepler astronomy or for mathematics. But
the doors of the ministry being presently barred to him, he turned with enthusiasm to the study of astronomy, being from the first an ardent advocate of the
Copemican system. His teacher, Maestlin, accepted the same doctrine, though he was obliged, for theological reasons, to teach the Ptolemaic system, as also to
oppose the Gregorian reform of the calendar. The Gregorian calendar, it should be explained, is so called because it was instituted by Pope Gregory XIII., who put it into effect in the year 1582, up to which time the so-called Julian calendar, as introduced by Julius Cccsar, had been ever3rwhere accepted in Christendom. This Julian calendar, as we have seen,
was a great improvement on preceding ones, but still lacked something of perfection inasmuch as its theoretical day differed appreciably from the actual day. In the course of fifteen hundred years, since the time of Caesar, this defect amounted to a discrepancy of about eleven days. Pope Gregory proppsed to correct this by omitting ten days from the calendar, which was done in September, 1582. To prevent similar inaccuracies in the future, the Gregorian calendar provided
that once in four centuries the additional day to make a leap-year should be omitted, the date selected for
such omission being the last year of every fourth century. Thus the years 1500, 1900, and 2300, a.d., would not be leap-years. By this arrangement an approximate rectification of the calendar was effect71
ed,
though even
this
does not
make
it
absolutely-
exact.
Such a rectification as this was obviously desirable, but there was really no necessity for the omission of the ten days from the calendar. The equinoctial day had shifted so that in the year 1582 it fell on the loth of March and September. There was no reason why it should not have remained there. It would greatly have simplified the task of future historians had Gregory contented himself with providing for the future stability of the calendar without making the needless shift in question. We are so accustomed to think of the 21st of March and 21st of September as
the natural periods of the equinox, that
we
are likely
to forget that these are purely arbitrary dates for
which the loth might have been substituted without any inconvenience or inconsistency. But the opposition to the new calendar, to which reference has been made, was not based on any such It was due, largely at any considerations as these. rate, to the fact that Germany at this time was under sway of the Lutheran revolt against the papacy. So effective was the opposition that the Gregorian calendar did not come into vogue in Germany until the year It may be added that England, under stress 1699. of the same manner of prejudice, held out against the
new reckoning
not accept
it
until the year 1751, while Russia does
even now.
leaders thus opposed the papal
As the Protestant
calendar,
it
attitude in a matter of so practical a character as the
might perhaps have been expected that

72
the Lutherans would have had a leaning towards the
JOHANN KEPLER
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

Copernican theory of the universe, since this theorywas opposed by the papacy. Such, however, was not Luther himself pointed out with great the case. strenuousness, as a final and demonstrative argument, the fact that Joshua commanded the sun and not the earth to stand still; and his followers were quite as intolerant towards the new teaching as were their Kepler himself was, at ultramontane opponents.
various times, to feel the restraint of ecclesiastical
opposition, though he
persecution,
Galileo.
as
was
his
was never subjected to direct friend and contemporary,

of Kepler's career there
At the very outset
was, indeed, question as to the publication of a
work
he had written, because that work took for granted the truth of the Copernican doctrine. This work apIt bore the title peared, however, in the year 1596. Mysterium Cosmographium, and it attempted to explain the positions of the various planetary bodies.
Copernicus had devoted
much time
to observation of
the planets with reference to measuring their distance,
and
his efforts had'
been attended with considerable
success.
He
did not, indeed, kno^v the actual distance
of the sun, and, therefore,
was quite imable
to fix the
distance of any planet; but, on the other hand, he
determined the relative distance of all the planets then known, as measured in terms of the sun's distance, with remarkable accuracy.
With these measurements
as a guide, Kepler
was
led to a very fanciful theory, according to
which the
orbits of the five principal planets sustain a peculiar
relation to the five regular solids of geometry.
His theory was this: "Around the orbit of the earth de73

dodecahedron the circle comprising it will be that of Mars; around Mars describe a tetrahedron the circle comprising it will be that of Jupiter around Jupiter describe a cube the circle comprising it will be that of Saturn now within the earth's orbit inscribe an icosahedron the inscribed circle will be that of Venus; in the orbit of Venus inscribe an octahedron the circle inscribed will be that of Mercury." ^ Though this arrangement was a fanciful one, which no one would now recall had not the theorizer obtained subsequent fame on more substantial grounds, yet it evidenced a philosophical spirit on the part of the astronomer which, misdirected as it was in this instance, promised well for the future. Tycho Brahe, to whom a copy of the work was sent, had the acumen
scribe a
;
to recognize
it
as a
work
of genius.
He summoned
in-
the young astronomer to be his assistant at Prague,
and no doubt the association thus begun was

future work.
It
strumental in determining the character of Kepler's
was
precisely the training in
minute
like
observation that could avail most for a

Kepler's, tended instinctively to
theories.
mind which,
the formulation of
became
AVhen Tycho Brahe died, in 1601, Kepler In due time he secured access to all the unpublished observations of his great predecessor, and these were of inestimable value to him in
his successor.
the progress of his
own
studies.
Kepler was not only an ardent wôrker and an was an indefatigable writer, and it pleased him to take the public fully into his confidence, not merely as to his successes, but as to his failures. Thus his works elaborate false theories
enthusiastic theorizer, but he
74
KEPLER S MECHANISM TO ILLUSTRATE HIS (INCORRECT) EARLY THEORY AS TO THE ORBITS OF THE PLANETARY BODIES
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

as well as correct ones,
and
detail the observations
through which the incorrect guesses were refuted by their originator. Some of these accounts are highly interesting, but they must not detain us here. For our present purpose it must suffice to point out the three important theories, which, as culled from among a score or so of incorrect ones, Kepler was able to demonstrate to his own satisfaction and to that of subsequent observers. Stated in a few words, these theories, which have come to bear the nam.e of Kepler's Laws, are the following:
1. That the planetary orbits are not circular, but elliptical, the sun occupying one focus of the ellipses. 2. That the speed of planetary motion varies in different parts of the orbit in such a way that an imaginary line drawn from the sun to the planet that is to say, the radius vector of the planet's orbit always sweeps the same area in a given time.
These two laws Kepler published as early as 1609. IMany years more of patient investigation were required before he found out the secret of the relation between planetary distances and times of revolution which his third law expresses. In 161 8, however, he
was able to formulate
this relation also, as follows
3. The squares of the distance of the various planets from the sun are proportional to the cubes of their periods of revolution about the sun.
All these laws,
it will
is
be observed, take for granted
the fact that the sun

It
the centre of the planetar}- orbits.

too, that the earth is constantty
must be understood,
regarded, in accordance with the Copernican system,

as being itself a
member
of the planetary system, sub-
75
ject to precisely the
same laws as the other
planets.
Long familiarity has made these wonderful laws of Kepler seem such a matter of course that it is difficult
now
to appreciate
them
at their full value.

it
Yet,
was the knowledge simple relations marvellously between the of these

as has been already pointed out,
planetary
orbits
that laid the foundation for the
Newtonian law of universal gravitation. Contemporary judgment could not, of course, anticipate this
culmination of a later generation.
What
it
could
understand was that the first law of Kepler attacked one of the most time-honored of metaphysical conceptions namely, the Aristotelian idea that the circle is the perfect figure, and hence that the planetary Not even Copernicus had orbits must be circular. doubted the validity of this assumption. That Kepler dared dispute so firmly fixed a belief, and one that seemingly had so sound a philosophical basis, evidenced the iconoclastic nature of his genius. That he did not rest content until he had demonstrated the validity of his revolutionary assumption shows how truly this great theorizer made his hypotheses subservient to the
most
rigid inductions.
GALILEO GALILEI
While Kepler was solving these riddles of planetary motion, there was an even more famous man in Italy whose championship of the Copemican doctrine was destined to give the greatest possible publicity to the
new
This was Galileo Galilei, one of the most extraordinary scientific observers of any age. Galileo
ideas.
was born at
Pisa,
on the i8th of February

76
(old style),
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

1564.
since
The day of his birth is doubly memorable, on the same day the greatest Italian of the
preceding epoch, Michael Angelo, breathed his last. Persons fond of symbolism have found in the coinci-
dence a forecast of the transit from the artistic to the scientific epoch of the later Renaissance. Galileo came an of impoverished noble family. He was educated for the profession of medicine, but did not progress far before his natural proclivities directed him towards the physical sciences. Meeting with opposition in Pisa, he early accepted a call to the chair of natural philosophy in the University of Padua, and later in life he made his home at Florence. The mechanical and physical discoveries of Galileo will claim our attention in another chapter. Our present concern is with his contribution to the Copemican theory.
Galileo himself records in a letter to Kepler that he
became a convert to this theory at an early day. He was not enabled, however, to make any marked contribution to the subject, beyond the influence of his general teachings, until about the year 16 10. The brilliant contributions which he made were due largely
namely, that of the telescope. Hitherto the astronomical observations had been made with the unaided eye. Glass lenses had been known
to a single discovery
now, no one thought of their possible use as aids to distant vision. The question of priority of discovery has never been settled. It is admitted, however, that the chief honors belong to the opticians of the Netherlands. As early as the year 1590 the Dutch optician Zacharias Jensen placed a concave and a convex
since the thirteenth century, but, until
had.
77
lens respectively at the ends of a tube about eighteen
inches long, and used this instrument for the purpose of magnifying small objects producing, in short, a crude
microscope.
of
1619,
Some years later, Johannes Lippershey, whom not much is known except that he died in
experimented with a somewhat similar com-
bination of lenses, and
made
the startling observation
that the weather-vane on a distant church - steeple
seemed to be brought much nearer when viewed through the lens. The combination of lenses he employed
is
that
still
glasses; the
Germans
used in the construction of operastill call such a combination a
Dutch
telescope.
number of experimenters took the matter up and the fame of the new instrument spread rapidly abroad. Galileo, down in Italy, heard rumors of this remarkable contrivance, through the use of which it was said "distant objects might be seen as clearly as those near at hand." He at once set to
Doiibtless a large
work
to construct for himself a similar instrument,
and
his efforts
were so far successful that at first he "saw objects three times as near and nine times enlarged." Continuing his efforts, he presently so improved his glass that objects were enlarged almost a thousand times and made to appear thirty times nearer than when seen with the naked eye. Naturally enough, Galileo turned this fascinating instrument towards the skies, and he was almost immediately rewarded by several startling discoveries. At the very outset, his magnifying-glass brought to view a vast number of stars that are invisible to the naked eye, and enabled the observer to reach the conclusion that the hazy light of
78
GALILEO GALILEI
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

the Milky
Way
is
merely due to the aggregation of a
vast
number
of tiny stars.
Turning his telescope towards the moon, Galileo found that body rough and earth-like in contour, its surface covered with mountains, whose height could be approximately measured through study of their shadows. This was disquieting, because the current Aristotelian doctrine supposed the moon, in common with the planets, to be a perfectly spherical, smooth body. The metaphysical idea of a perfect universe was sure to be disturbed by this seemingly rough workmanship of the moon. Thus far, however, there was nothing in the observations of Galileo to bear directly upon the Copernican theory; but when an
inspection
quite different.
was made of the planets the case was With the aid of his telescope, Galileo
for example, passes
saw that Venus,
through phases
precisely similar to those of the
moon, due, of course, Here, then, was demxon strati ve to the same cause. evidence that the planets are dark bodies reflecting the light of the sun, -and an explanation was given of the
fact, hitherto
urged in opposition to the Copernican
theory, that the inferior planets do not
seem many
times brighter
when nearer
of
the earth than
when
in the
most distant parts
their orbits;
the explanation
being, of course, that
when
the planets are between
the earth and the sun only a small portion of their

illumined surfaces
revelation
is
visible
from the earth.

a
still
On inspecting the planet Jupiter,

was made, as four tiny
more
striking
were observed to occupy an equatorial position near that planet, and were seen, when watched night after night, to be circling
stars
79
about the planet, precisely as the moon
the earth.
circles
about
system
theory.
Here, obviously, was a miniature solar

tangible object-lesson in the Copernican
In honor of the ruling Florentine house of the
period, Galileo
stars.
named
these
moons of Jupiter, Medicean
Turning attention to the sun itself, Galileo observed on the surface of that luminary a spot or blemish which gradually changed its shape, suggesting that changes were taking place in the substance of changes obviously incom.patible with the the Sim perfect condition demanded by the metaphysical theorists. But however disquieting for the conservative, the sun's spots served a most useful purpose in enabling Galileo to demonstrate that the sun itself revolves on its axis, since a given spot was seen to pass across the disk and after disappearing to reappear in due course. The period of rotation was found to be
about twenty-four days. It must be added that various observers disputed priority of discovery of the sun's spots with Galileo. Unquestionably a sun-spot had been seen by earlier observers, and by them mistaken for the transit of an Kepler himself had made this misinferior planet. take. Before the day of the telescope, he had viewed the image of the sun as thrown on a screen in a cameraobscura, and had observed a spot on the disk which he interpreted as representing the planet Mercury, but which, as is now known, must have been a sun-spot, since the planetary disk is too small to have been revealed by this method. Such observations as these, however interesting, cannot be claimed as discoveries
80
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

of the sun-spots.
discoverers
It is probable, however, that several
Johann Fabricius) made the telescopic observation of the spots, and recognized them as having to do with the sun's surface, almost
(notably
simultaneously with Galileo.

Scheiner,
One
of these claimants
of this was a Jesuit named man is said to have had a share in bringing about that persecution to which we must now refer. There is no more famous incident in the history of science than the heresy trial through which Galileo was led to the nominal renunciation of his cherished
and the jealousy
doctrines. There is scarcely another incident that has been commented upon so variously. Each succeeding generation has put its own interpretation on it. The facts, however, have been but little questioned. It appears that in the year 1616 the church became at
aroused to the implications of the heliocentric Apparently it seemed clear to the church authorities that the authors of the Bible believed the world to be immovably fixed at the centre of the universe. Such, indeed, would seem to be the natural inference from various familiar phrases of the Hebrew text, and what we now know of the status of Oriental science in antiquity gives full warrant to this interpretation. There is no reason to suppose that the conception of the subordinate place of the world in the solar system had ever so much as occurred, even as a vague speculation, to the authors of Genesis. In common with their contemporaries, they believed the earth to be the all-important body in the universe, and the sun a luminary placed in the sky for the sole
last
doctrine of the universe.
purpose of giving light to the earth.

81;
There
is
nothing
strange, nothing anomalous, in this view;
it
merely
reflects the current notions of Oriental peoples in an-
What is strange and anomalous is the fact that the Oriental dreamings thus expressed could have
tiquity.
been supposed to represent the acme of scientific knowledge. Yet such a hold had these writings taken upon the Western world that not even a Galileo dared contradict them openly; and when the church fathers
gravely declared the heliocentric theory necessarily
false, because contradictory to Scripture, there were probably few people in Christendom whose mental attitude would permit them justly to appreciate the humor of such a pronouncement. And, indeed, if here and there- a man might have risen to such an appreciation, there were abundant reasons for the repression of the impulse, for there was nothing humorous about the response with which the authorities of the time were wont to meet the expression of iconoclastic opinions. The burning at the stake of Giordano Bruno, in the year 1600, was, for example, an object-lesson well calculated to restrain the enthusiasm of other similarly minded teachers. Doubtless it was such considerations that explained the relative silence of the champions of the Copernican theory, accounting for the otherwise inexplicable fact that about eighty years elapsed after the death of Copernicus himself before a single text-book expounded his theory. The text-book which then appeared, under date of 1622, was written by the famous Kepler, who perhaps was shielded in a measure from the papal consequences of such hardihood by the fact of residence in a Protestant country. Not that the Prot-
82
1.
.-'^^
hv T^pl
FRONTISPIECE OF GALILEO
SYSTEMA COSMICUM
(Published in 1641.)
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

estants of the time favored the heHocentric doctrine
we have already quoted Luther in an adverse sense but of course was characteristic of the Reforit
mation temper to oppose any papal pronouncement, hence the ultramontane declaration of 1616 may indirectly have aided the doctrine which it attacked, by making that doctrine less obnoxious to Lutheran eyes. Be that as it may, the work of Kepler brought its author into no direct conflict with the authorities. But the result was quite different when, in 1632, Galileo at last broke silence and gave the world, under cover of the form of dialogue, an elaborate exposition Galileo, it must be exof the Copernican theory. previously been warned to keep silent plained, had on the subject, hence his publication doubly offended the authorities. To be sure, he could reply that his dialogue introduced a champion of the Ptolemaic system to dispute with the upholder of the opposite view, and that, both views being presented with full
array of argument, the reader was
edly expressed an opinion.
course,
left
to reach a
verdict for himself, the author having nowhere point-
But such an argument,
of
was
specious, for
no one who read the dialogue
could be in doubt as to the opinion of the author.
Moreover,
Simplicio, the character Ptolemaic doctrine and who was everywhere worsted in the argument, was intended to represent the pope himself a suggestion which probably did no good to Galileo's cause. The character of Galileo's artistic presentation may best be judged from an example, illustrating the vigit
was hinted that

the
who upheld
orous assault of Salviati, the champion of the

83
new
theory,
and the
feeble
retorts
of
his
conservative
antagonist
with the consideration that, whatever motion may be attributed to the earth, yet we, as dwellers upon it, and hence as participators in its motion, cannot possibly perceive anything of it, presupposing that we are to consider only earthly things. On the other hand, it is just as necessary that this same motion belong apparently to all other bodies and visible objects, which, being separated from the earth, do not take part in its motion. The correct method to discover whether one can ascribe motion to the earth, and what kind of motion, is, therefore, to investigate and observe whether in bodies outside the earth a perceptible motion may be discovered which belongs to all alike. Because a movement which is perceptible only in the moon, for instance, and has nothing to do with Venus or Jupiter or other stars, cannot possibly be peculiar to the earth, nor can its seat be anywhere else than in the moon. Now there is one such universal movement which controls all others namely, that which the sun, moon, the other planets, the fixed stars in short, the whole iini verse, with the single exception of the earth appears to execute from east to west in the space of twentyfour hours. This now, as it appears at the first glance anyway, might just as well be a motion of the earth alone as of all the rest of the universe with the excep-
" Salviati. Let us then begin our discussion
tion of the earth, for the

sult
from
either hypothesis.
general, I will
same phenomena would reBeginning with the most enumerate the reasons which seem to
84
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

speak in favor of the earth's motion. When we merely consider the immensity of the starry sphere in comparison with the smallness of the terrestrial ball, which is contained many million times in the former, and then think of the rapidity of the motion which completes a whole rotation in one day and night, I cannot persuade myself how any one can hold it to be more reasonable and credible that it is the heavenly sphere which rotates, while the earth stands still. " Simplicio. I do not well understand
erful
how that powmotion may be said to as good as not exist for the Sim, the moon, the other planets, and the innumerable
Do you call that nothing when host of fixed stars. the sun goes from one meridian to another, rises up over this horizon and sinks behind that one, brings
now
day, and
now
night
when
the
moon
goes through
similar changes,
in the
and the other planets and fixed stars same way ? " Salviati. All the changes you mention are such only
in respect to the earth.
To convince yourself
of
it,
only
be no
imagine the earth out of existence. There would then rising and setting of the sun or of the moon, no horizon, no meridian, no day, no night in short, the said motion causes no change of any sort in the relation of the sun to the moon or to any of the other
heavenly bodies, be they planets or fixed stars. All changes are rather in respect to the earth they may all be reduced to the simple fact that the sun is first visible in China, then in Persia, afterwards in Eg^^pt, Greece, France, Spain, America, etc., and that the same thing happens with the moon and the other heavenly bodies. Exactly the same thing happens and in exactly the
;
VOL.
II.
85
same way
if,
instead of disturbing so large a part of

let
the universe, you
the earth revolve about
itself.
The
difficulty is, however, doubled, inasmuch as a If, second very important problem presents itself. namely, that powerful motion is ascribed to the heavens, it is absolutely necessary to regard it as opposed to the individual motion of all the planets, every one of which indubitably has its own very leisurely and
moderate movement from west to

other hand, you
let
east.
If,
on the
the earth
move about
itself, this
opposition of motion disappears.
"The improbability
is
tripled
by the complete
over-
throw of that order which rules all the heavenly bodies in which the revolving motion is definitely established.
The
is
greater the sphere
is
in
such a case, so
;
much
longer
the time required for its revolution the smaller the sphere the shorter the time. Saturn, whose orbit surpasses those of
all
the planets in
size,
its
traverses
it
in
thirty 3êars.
Jupiter^ completes
;
smaller course in
twelve years. Mars in two the moon performs its much smaller revolution within a month. Just as clearly in the Medicean stars, we see that the one nearest Jupiter
completes
its
revolution in a very short time

;
about
forty-two hours
sixteen days.
out, will
still
the next in about three and one-haH
days, the third in seven,
and the most distant one in This rule, which is followed throughif
remain
we
ascribe the twenty -fourIf,
hourly motion to a rotation of the earth. the earth is left motionless, we must go
however, from the very short rule of the moon to ever greater ones to the two-yearly rule of Mars, from that to the twelve-yearly
first
one of Jupiter, from here to the thirty-yearly one of 86
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

Saturn, and then suddenly to an incomparably greater
sphere, to
which
also
we must
ascribe a complete rota-
tion in twenty-four hours.
If,
however,
we assume a
very
motion
of the earth, the rapidity of the periods is
well preserved; from the slowest sphere of Saturn
we
come
as
to the wholly motionless fixed stars.
We
also
escape thereby a fourth difficulty, which arises as soon

stars.
we assume that there is motion in I mean the great unevenness

some
of
the sphere of the

in the
movement
recircles,
of these very stars,
which would have to
volve with extraordinary rapidity in immense

while others
some of less, distance from the pole. That is likewise an inconvenience, for, on the one hand, we see all those stars, the motion of which is indubitable, revolve in great circles, while, on the other hand, there seems to be little object in placing bodies, which are to move in circles, at an enormous distance from the centre and then let them move in
very small
circles.
moved very slowly in small them are at a greater, others at a
circles, since
And
different circles
and therewith the rapidity
not only are the size of the of the movestars,
ment very different in the different fixed same stars also change their orbits and
of motion.
but the
their rapidity
Therein consists the fifth inconvenience. Those stars, namely, which were at the equator two thousand years ago, and hence described great circles
in their revolutions,
must to-day move more slowly and
in smaller circles, because they are
many
degrees re-
moved from
even happen, after not so very long a time, that one of those which have hitherto been continually in motion will finally coincide with the pole and stand still, but after a period of repose will
it.
It will
87
again begin to move. The other stars in the mean while, which unquestionably move, all have, as was
said,
a great circle for an orbit and keep this unis
changeably. "The improbability

that
it is
further increased
be considered the sixth inconvenience
this
may
^b}^
the fact
impossible to conceive what degree of solidity

stars are fixed so enduringly that they
those immense spheres must have, -in the depths of
which so many
are kept revolving evenly in spite of such difference of motion without changing their respective positions.
if, according to the much more probable theory, the heavens are fluid, and every star describes an orbit of its own, according to what law then, or for what reason, are their orbits so arranged that, when looked at from the earth, they appear to be contained in one single sphere? To attain this it seems to me much easier and more convenient to make them motionless instead of moving, just as the paving - stones on the market-place, for instance, remain in order more easily than the swarms of children running about on them. "Finally, the seventh difficulty: If we attribute the
Or
daily rotation to the higher region of the heavens,
we
should have to endow it with force and power sufficient to carry with it the innumerable host of the fixed stars
every one a body of very great compass and much

larger than the
earthand
all
the planets, although

in
the
latter, like
the earth,
move naturally
all this
an opposite
little
direction.
single
In the midst of
alone,
the
earth,
and
would obstinately and

supposition which,
it.
wilfully withit
stand such force
appears to
me, has
much against
could also not explain
why
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

the earth, a freely poised body, balancing itself about its centre, and surrounded on all sides by a fluid medi-
um, should not be affected by the universal rotation. Such difficulties, however, do not confront us if we attribute motion to the earth such a small, insignificant body in comparison with the whole universe, and which for that very reason cannot exercise any power over the latter. Simplicio. You support your argimients throughout, it seems to me, on the greater ease and simplicity with which the said effects are produced. You mean that as a cause the motion of the earth alone is just as satisfactory as the motion of all the rest of the universe with the exception of the earth; you hold the actual event to be much easier in the former case than in the latter. For the ruler of the universe, however, whose might is infinite, it is no less easy to move the universe than the earth or a straw balm. But if his power is infinite, why should not a greater, rather than a very small, part of it be revealed to me ? " Salviati. If I had said that the universe does not move on account of the impotence of its ruler, I should have been wrong and your rebuke would have been in order. I admit that it is just as easy for an infinite power to move a hundred thousand as to move one. What I said, however, does not refer to him who causes the motion, but to that which is moved. In answer to your remark that it is more fitting for an infinite power
''
to reveal a large part of
itself rather than a little, I answer that, in relation to the infinite, one part is not Hence it is greater than another, if both are finite. imallowable to say that a hundred thousand is a larger
89
part of an infinite
mer
is fifty
number than two, although the thousand times greater than the latter.
forIf,
therefore, we consider the moving bodies, we must unquestionably regard the motion of the earth as a much simpler process than that of the universe; if, furthermore, we direct our attention to so many other simplifications which may be reached only by this theory, the daily movement of the earth must appear much more probable than the motion of the universe without the earth, for, according to Aristotle's just
axiom,
ciora
'
Frustra
fit
per plura, quod potest
fieri
per pau-
(It is
vain to expend
many means where
a few
are sufficient)."*
The work was widely circulated, and it was received with an interest which bespeaks a wide-spread undercurrent of belief in the Copernican doctrine. Naturally enough, it attracted immediate attention from the church authorities. Galileo was summoned to appear at Rome to defend his conduct. The philosopher, who was now in his seventieth year, pleaded age and infirmity. He had no desire for personal experience of the tribunal of the Inquisition; but the mandate was There, as every repeated, and Galileo went to Rome. one knows, he disavowed any intention to oppose the teachings of Scripture, and formally renounced the heretical doctrine of the earth's motion. According to a tale which so long passed current that every historian must still repeat it though no one now believes
it
authentic,
Galileo
qualified
his
renunciation
by
muttering to himself, " E pur si muove" (It does move, none the less), as he rose to his feet and retired from
90
THE NEW COSMOLOGY

the presence of his persecutors.
The
tale is
one of
those fictions which the dramatic sense of humanity

is
wont
to impose
it
upon
history, but, like

if
most such
fictions,
expresses the spirit
not the letter of
truth; for just as no one believes that Galileo's lips
uttered the phrase, so no one doubts that the rebellious
mind. After his formal renunciation, Galileo was allowed to depart, but with the injunction that he abstain in future from heretical teaching. The remaining ten years of his life were devoted chiefly to mechanics, where his experiments fortunately opposed the Aristotelian rather than the Hebrew teachings. Galileo's death occurred in 1642, a hundred years after the death of Copernicus. Kepler had died thirteen years before, and there remained no astronomer in the field who is conspicuous in the history of science as a champion of the Copemican doctrine. But in truth it might be said that the theory no longer needed a champion. The researches of Kepler and Galileo had produced a mass of evidence for the Copernican theory which amounted to demonstration. A generation or two might be required for this evidence to make itself everywhere known among men of science, and of course the ecclesiastical authorities must be expected to stand by their guns for a somewhat longer period. In point of fact, the ecclesiastical ban was not techhis
words were in
removed by the striking of the Copernican books from the list of the Index Expurgatorius until the year 1822, almost two hundred years after the date of Galileo's dialogue. But this, of course, is in no
nically
sense a guide to the state of general opinion regarding
91
the theory.
if
We
shall gain a true
we assume
that the greater
number
gauge as to this of important
thinkers had accepted the heliocentric doctrine before
the middle of the seventeenth century, and that before the close of that century the old Ptolemaic idea had
been quite abandoned. A wonderful revolution in man's estimate of the universe had thus been effected within about two centuries after the birth of Copernicus.
V
GALILEO AND THE NEW PHYSICS
AFTER
L
Galileo
had
felt
the strong hand of the
Inquisition, in 1632, he
was
careful
to
confine
his researches, or at least his publications, to topics
that seemed free from theological implications. In doing so he reverted to the field of his earliest studies
namely,
delle
the field of mechanics; and the Dialoghi Nuove Scienze, which he finished in 1636, and which was printed two years later, attained a celebrity no less than that of the heretical dialogue that had preceded it. The later work was free from all apparent heresies, yet perhaps it did more towards the establishment of the Copemican doctrine, through
the teaching of correct mechanical principles, than the other work had accomplished by a more direct
method.
Galileo's astronomical discoveries were, as
seen, in a sense accidental
;
we have
at least, they received their
inception through the inventive genius of another.
His mechanical discoveries, on the other hand, were the natural output of his own creative genius. At the very beginning of his career, while yet a very young man, though a professor of mathematics at Pisa, he had begun that onslaught upon the old Aristotelian ideas which he was to continue throughout his life. At the famous leaning tower in Pisa, the
93

young iconoclast performed, in the year 1590, one of the most theatrical demonstrations in the history of Assembling a multitude of champions of the science.
old
ideas,
he proposed to demonstrate the falsity

is
of the Aristotelian doctrine that the velocity of fall-
ing bodies
proportionate to their weight.
There
is
perhaps no fact more of the Middle Ages than the fact that this doctrine, as taught by the Aristotelian philosopher, should so long have gone unchallenged. Now, however, it was put to the test; Galileo released a half-pound weight and a hundred-pound cannon-ball from near the top of the tower, and, needless, to say, they reached the ground together. Of course, the spectators were but They could not little pleased with what they saw.
strongly illustrative of the temper
doubt the evidence of
their
own
;
senses as to the
they could suggest, involved a violation of experiment that the however, the laws of nature through the practice of magic. To controvert so firmly established an idea savored of The young man guilty of such iconoclasm heresy.
particular experiment in question
was naturally looked at askance by the scholarship of Instead of being applauded, he was hissed, his time. and he found it expedient presently to retire from
Pisa.
made
had some other portions of Italy, and so Galileo found a refuge and a following in Padua, and afterwards in Florence; and while, as we have seen, he was obliged to curb his enthusiasm regarding the subject that was perhaps nearest his
Fortunately, however, the
itself felt
new
spirit of progress
more
effectively in
heart
the
promulgation of the Copernican theory

94

yet he was permitted in the main to carry on his experimental observations unrestrained. These ex-
periments gave him a place of unquestioned authority among his contemporaries, and they have transmitted his name to posterit}^ as that of one of the greatest of experimenters and the virtual founder of modern mechanical science. The experiments in question range over a wide field; but for the most part they
have to do with moving bodies and with questions
we should now say, of energy. The experiment at the leaning tower showed that the velocity of falling bodies is independent of the weight of the bodies, provided the weight is sufficient to overcome the resistance of the atmosphere. Later experiments with falling bodies led to the discovery of laws regarding the accelerated velocity of fall. Such velocities were found to bear a simple relation to the period of time from the beginning of the fall. Other experiments, in which balls were allowed to roll down inclined planes, corroborated the observation that the puUof gravitation gave a velocity proportionate to the length of fall, whether such fall were
of force, or, as
direct or in a slanting direction.
These studies were associated with observations on which Galileo was the first to entertain correct notions. According to the current idea, a projectile fired, for example, from a cannon, moved in a straight horizontal line until the propulsive force was exhausted, and then fell to the ground in a perpendicular line. Galileo taught that the projectile begins to fall at once on leaving the mouth of the cannon and traverses a parabolic course.
projectiles, regarding
^^
95
According to his idea, which is now famiHar to every one, a cannon-ball dropped from the level of the cannon's muzzle will strike the ground simultaneously with a ball fired horizontally from the cannon. As to the paraboloid course pursued by the projectile, the resistance of the air is a factor which Galileo could not accurately compute, and which interferes with the practical realization of his theory. But this is a minor consideration. The great importance of his idea consists in the recognition that such a force as
that of gravitation acts in precisely the same
way
upon
unsupported bodies, whether or not such bodies be at the same time acted upon by a force of
all
translation.
Out
of these studies of
moving bodies was grad-
ually developed a correct notion of several impor-
tant general laws of mechanics

of
laws a knowledge which was absolutely essential to the progress of
physical science.
The
belief in the rotation of the

all
earth miade necessary a clear conception that
bodies
at the surface of the earth partake of that motion
quite independently of their various observed motions

in relation to one another.
grasp, as an oft -repeated
This idea was hard to argument shows. It was

if
asserted again
and again
that,
the earth rotates, a

fall
stone dropped from the top of a tower could not
at the foot of the tower, since the earth's motion
would sweep the tower

position while the stone
is
far
away from
its
original
in transit.
This was one of the stock arguments against the earth's motion, yet it was one that could be refuted with the greatest ease by reasoning from strictly
96

analogous experiments. It might readily be observed, for example, that a stone dropped from a moving cart
does not strike the ground directly below the point from which it is dropped, but partakes of the forward
motion of the cart. If any one doubt this he has but to jump from a moving cart to be given a practical demonstration of the fact that his entire body was in some way influenced by the motion of translation. Similarly, the simple experiment of tossing a ball from the deck of a moving ship will convince any one that the ball partakes of the motion of the ship, so that it can be manipulated precisely as if the manipulator were standing on the earth. In short, every-day experience gives us illustrations of what might be called compound motion, which makes it seem altogether
plausible that,
if
the earth
is
in motion, objects at its
way that does not interfere with any other movements to which they may be subjected. As the Copemican doctrine made its way, this idea of compound motion naturally
surface will partake of that motion in a
received more and
more
attention,
and such experi-
ments as those
of Galileo prepared the
way
for a
new
interpretation of the mLechanical principles involved.
The great
bodies had
difficulty
was that the subject
of
moving
along been contemplated from a wrong point of view. Since force must be applied to an object to put it in motion, it was p)erhaps not unnaturally assumed that similar force must continue to be applied
all
to keep the object in motion.
When,
for example, a
stone
is
thrown from the hand, the direct force applied
necessarily ceases as soon as the projectile leaves the
hand.
The
stone, nevertheless, flies
on
for a certain
97
distance and then
flight
falls to
the ground.
How
is
this
of the
stone to be explained?
The ancient
philosophers puzzled more than
a little over this problem, and the Aristotelians reached the conclusion that the motion of the hand had imparted a propulsive
motion to the
air,
and that
this propulsive
motion was
transmitted to the stone, pushing it on. Just how the air took on this propulsive property was not explained,
terized
and the vagueness

the time did not
of thought that charac-
demand an
explanation.
Possibly the dying

furnished,
away
of ripples in
water
may have
by analogy, an explanation of the gradual dying out of the impulse which propels the stone. All of this was, of course, an unfortunate maladjustment of the point of view. As every one nowadays knows, the air retards the progress of the stone, enabling the pull of gravitation to drag it to the earth earlier than it otherwise could. Were the
and the pull of gravitation removed, the stone as projected from the hand would fly on in a straight line, at an unchanged velocity, forever. But this fact, which is expressed in what we now term the first law of motion, was extremiely difficult to grasp. The first important step towards it was perhaps implied in Galileo's study of falling bodies. These studies, as we have seen, demonstrated that a half-pound weight and a hundred-pound weight fall with the same velocity. It is, however, matter
resistance of the air
of
common
experience that certain bodies,

fall
as, for ex-
ample, feathers, do not
at the
with these heavier bodies. explanation, and the explanation

98
same rate of speed This anomaly demands an

is
found in the

by the Once the idea that the air may thus act as an impeding force was grasped, the investigator of mechanical principles had entered on a new and promresistance offered the relatively light object
air.
ising course.
Galileo
could not demonstrate the retarding in-
fluence of air in the way which became famiHar a generation or two later he could not put a feather and a coin in a vacuum tube and prove that the two would
;
fall with equal velocity, because, in his day, air-pump the had not yet been invented. The experiment was made only a generation after the time of Galileo, as we shall see; but, meantime, the great Italian had fully grasped the idea that atmospheric resistance plays a most important part in regard to the motion of falling and projected bodies. Thanks largely to his own experiments, but partly also to the efforts of others, he had come, before the end of his life, pretty definitely to realize that the motion of a projectile, for example, must be thought of as inherent in the projectile itself, and that the retardation or ultimate cessation of that motion is due to the action of antagonistic forces. In other words, he had come to grasp the meaning of the first law of motion. It remained, however, for the great Frenchman Descartes to give precise expression to this law two
there
years after Galileo's death.
As Descartes expressed
it
in his Principia PhilosophicB, published in 1644, any body once in motion tends to go on in a straight line,
at a uniform rate of speed, forever.
Contrariwise, a
stationary
body remain forever at rest unless acted on by some disturbing force.

will
99
dation of
This all-irnportant law, which Hes at the very founall true conceptions of mechanics, was thus
worked out during the first half of the seventeenth century, as the outcome of numberless experiments for which Galileo's experiments with falling bodies furnished the foundation. vSo numerous and so gradual were the steps by which the reversal of view regarding moving bodies was effected that it is impossible to trace them in detail. We must be content to reflect
that at the beginning of the Galilean epoch utterly
false notions regarding the subject
were entertained
by
the very greatest philosophers
by Galileo himself,
and by Kepler whereas at the close of correct and highly illuminative view the epoch that had been attained. We must now consider some other experiments of Galileo which led to scarcely less -important results. The experiments in question had to do with the movements of bodies passing down an inclined plane, and with the allied subject of the motion of a pendulum. The elaborate experiments of Galileo regarding the former subject were made by measuring the velocity
for example,
of a ball rolling
down
a plane inclined at various angles.
He found
that the velocity acquired
by a
ball
was
proportional to the height from which
the ball de-
scended regardless of the steepness of the incline. Experiments were made also with a ball rolling down a curved gutter, the curve representing the arc of a circle. These experiments led to the study of the curvilinear motions of a weight suspended by a cord; in other words, of the pendulum. Regarding the motion of the pendulum, some very
lOO
Galileo and the new physics

curious facts were soon ascertained.
for example, that a
Galileo found,
pendulum
of a given length per-
forms
its oscillations
with the same frequency though
the arc described
by the pendulum be varied greatly/
He
law.
found, also, that the rate of oscillation for penof different lengths varies according to a simple In order that one pendulum shall oscillate one-
dulums
half as fast as another, the length of the pendulums must be as four to one. Similarly, by lengthening the pendulums nine times, the oscillation is reduced to
pendulums
In other words, the rate of oscillation of varies inversely as the square of their Here, then, is a simple relation between the length. motions of swinging bodies which suggests the relation
one-third.
which Kepler had discovered between the relative motions of the planets. Every such discovery coming in this age of the rejuvenation of experimental science
had a peculiar force in teaching men the all-important lie back of most of the diverse phenomena of nature, if only these laws can be dislesson that simple laws
covered.
Galileo further observed that his pendulum might be constructed of any weight sufficiently heavy readily to overcome the atmospheric resistance, and that, with this qualification, neither the weight nor the material had any influence upon the time of oscillation, this being solely determined by the length of the cord.
Naturally, the practical utility of these discoveries
was not overlooked by

here
is
Galileo.
Since a
pendulum
of a given length oscillates with
unvarying rapidity, measuring time. Galileo, however, appears not to have met with any great
an obvious means
II.
of
VOL.
lOI
measure of success in putting this idea into practice. It remained for the mechanical ingenuity of Huyghens
to construct a satisfactory
pendulum
clock.
As a
theoretical result of the studies of rolling
and
oscillating bodies, there
was developed what
is
usually
spoken of as the third law of motion

that a given force operates
namely, the law
upon a moving body with an effect .proportionate to its effect upon the same body when at rest. Or, as Whewell states the law: "The dynamical effect of force is as the statical effect; that is, the velocity which any force generates in a given time, when it puts the body in motion, is proportional to the pressure which this sam.e force pro-
duces in a body at rest." ^ According to the second law of motion, each one of the different forces, operating
at the
same
rest.
effect as if it
same time upon a moving body, produces the operated upon the body while at
STEVINUS AND THE LAW OF EQUILIBRIUM

then, that the mechanical studies of taken as a whole, were nothing less than revolutionary. They constituted the first great advance upon the dynamic studies of Archimedes, and then led to the secure foundation for one of the most important of modern sciences. We shall see that an important company of students entered the field immediately after the time of Galileo, and carried forward the work he had so well begun. But before passing on to the
It appears,
Galileo,
consideration of their labors,

in allied fields of
of Galileo
we must consider work two men who were contemporaries and whose original labors were in some reI02

spects scarcely less important than his own.
These
men
are the
Dutchman
Stevinus,
who must always
be remembered as a co-laborer with Galileo in the foundation of the science of dynamics, and the Englishman Gilbert, to whom is due the unqualified praise of first subjecting the phenomenon of magnetism to a
strictly scientific investigation.
He was
Stevinus was born in the year 1548, and died in 1620. a man of a practical genius, and he attract-
ed the attention of his non-scientific contemporaries, among other ways, by the construction of a curious land-craft, which, mounted on wheels, was to be proNot only did he w^rite a pelled by sails like a boat.
book on
this curious horseless carriage,
but he put
his
idea into practical application, producing a vehicle
which actually traversed the distance between Scheveningen and Petton, with no fewer than twenty-seven passengers, one of them being Prince Maurice of Orange. This demonstration was made about the year 1600, It does not appear, however, that any important use was made of the strange vehicle but the man who invented it put his mechanical ingenuity to other use with It was he who solved the problem of better effect. oblique forces, and who discovered the im.portant hy;
drostatic principle that the pressure of fluids

of the including vessel.
is
pro-
portionate to their depth, without regard to the shape
The study of oblique forces was made by Stevinus with the aid of inclined planes. His most demonstrative experiment was a very simple one, in which a chain of balls of equal weight was hung from a triangle the triangle being so constructed as to rest on a
;
103
horizontal base, the oblique sides bearing the relation
to each other of
two to one.
chain of balls just balanced
when
Stevinus found that his four balls were on
the longer side and two on the shorter and steeper The balancing of force thus brought about conside.
stituted a stable equilibrium, Stevinus being the first
to discriminate
between such a condition and the un-
balanced condition called unstable equilibrium. By this simple experiment was laid the foundation of the Stevinus had a full grasp of the science of statics. principle which his experiment involved, and he applied it to the solution of oblique forces in all direcEarlier investigations of Stevinus were pubtions. His collected works were published at lished in 1608.
Ley den
in 1634.
This study of the equilibrium of pressure of bodies at rest led Stevinus, not unnaturally, to consider the
allied subject of the pressure of liquids.
He
is
to be
credited with the explanation of the so-called hydrostatic paradox.
The
familiar
is
modem
made by
which
illustrates this
paradox
experiment inserting a
long perpendicular tube of small caliber into the top of a tight barrel. On filling the barrel and tube with
water,
burst the barrel, though

insignificant.
which will be a strong one, and though the actual weight of water in the tube is comparatively
it is
possible to produce a pressure

it
This illustrates the fact that the press-
ure at the bottom of a column of liquid is proportionate to the height of the column, and not to its
bulk, this being the hydrostatic paradox in question.
The explanation
is
that an enclosed fluid under pressall
ure exerts an equal force upon
parts of the
cir-
104

fore,
cumscribing wall; the aggregate pressure may, therebe increased indefinitely by increasing the surIt is this principle, of course,
face.
which
is
utilized
in the familiar hydrostatic press.
Theoretical explainvestigators,
nations of the pressure of liquids were supplied a generation or
two
later
by numerous
in-
cluding Newton, but the practical refoundation of the

science of hydrostatics in
modern times dates from the
experiments of Stevinus.
GALILEO AND THE EQUILIBRIUM OF FLUIDS
Experiments of an allied character, having to do with the equilibrium of fluids, exercised the ingenuity vSome of his most interesting experiments of Galileo. have to do with the subject of floating bodies. It will be recalled that Archimedes, away back in the Alexandrian epoch, had solved the most important problems of hydrostatic equilibrium. Now, however, his experiments were overlooked or forgotten, and Galileo was obliged to make experiments anew, and to combat fallacious views that ought long since to have been abandoned. Perhaps the most illuminative view of the spirit of the times can be gained by quoting at length a paper of Galileo's, in which he details his own experiments with floating bodies and controverts the views of his opponents. The paper has further value as illustrating Galileo's methods both as experimenter and as speculative reasoner. The current view, which Galileo here undertakes to refute, asserts that water ofliers resistance to penetration, and that this resistance is instrumental in determining whether a body placed in water will float or
105
sink.
Galileo contends that water

This, of
course,
is
non-resistant,
of
and that bodies
float or sink in virtue

is
their re-
merely a restatement of the law of Archimedes. But it remains to explain the fact that bodies of a certain shape will
spective weights.
float,
while bodies of the same material and weight,

will sink.
but of a different shape,
We
shall
see
what explanation
proceed.
Galileo finds of this
anomaly as we
In the
of wax,
first place, Galileo makes a cone of wood or and shows that when it floats with either its
point or
base in the water, it displaces exactly the same amount of fluid, although the apex is by its shape better adapted to overcome the resistance of the water, if that were the cause of buoyancy. Again,
its
by tempering the wax with filings of lead till it sinks in the water, when it will be found that in any figure the same quantity of cork must be added to it to raise the surface.
the experiment
may be
varied
"But," says Galileo, "this silences not my antagothey say that all the discourse hitherto made by me imports little to them, and that it serves their turn; that they have demonstrated in one instance, and in such manner and figure as pleases them best namely, in a board and in a ball of ebony that one when put into the water sinks to the bottom, and that the other stays to swim on the top and the matter being the same, and the two bodies differing in nothing but in figure, they affirm that with all perspicuity they have demonstrated and sensibly manifested what they undertook. Nevertheless, I believe, and think I can prove, that this very experiment proves nothnists
;
io6

ing against
will sink,
my
theory.
And
first,
it
is
false
that
the ball sinks and
the board not;
for
the board
too, if you do to both the figures as the words of our question require; that is, if you put them both in the water; for to be in the water implies to be placed in the water, and by Aristotle's own definition of place, to be placed imports to be environed by the surface of the ambient body; but when my antagonists show the floating board of ebony, they put it not into the water, but upon the water; where, being detained by a certain impediment (of which more anon), it is surrounded, partly with water, partly with air, which is contrary to our agreement, for that was that bodies should be in the water, and
not part in the water, part in the air. " I will not omit another reason, founded also upon experience, and, if I deceive not myself, conclusive against the notion that figure, and the resistance of the water to penetration, have anything to do with the buoyancy of bodies. Choose a piece of wood or other matter, as, for instance, walnut- wood, of which a ball rises from the bottom of the water to the surface more
slowly than a ball of ebony of the same size sinks, so
that, clearly, the ball of
ebony divides the water more
readily in sinking than the ball of
wood does
if it
in rising.
Then take a board

floating one of
this latter floats
my
and like the be true that by reason of the figure being unable
of walnut-tree equal to
antagonists;
and
to penetrate the water, the other of walnut-tree, with-
out a question, if thrust to the bottom, ought to stay there, as having the same impeding figure, and being
less
apt to overcome the said resistance of the

107
wat-er.
But
if
we
find
by experience that not only the
thin
board, but every other figure of the same walnut-tree,
unquestionably we shall, then I must desire my opponents to forbear to attribute the floating of the ebony to the figure of the board, since the resistance of the water is the same in rising as in sinking, and the force of ascension of the walnuttree is less than the ebony's force for going to the
will return to float, as
bottom.
"
Now let us return
to the thin plate of gold or silver,
or the thin board of ebony, and let us lay it lightly upon the water, so that it may stay there without It will apsinking, and carefully observe the effect.
pear clearly that the plates are a considerable matter lower than the surface of the water, which rises up and makes a kind of rampart round them on every
side.
But
if it
has already penetrated and overcome

is
own nature not continue to sink, but stop and suspend itself in that little dimple that its weight has made in the water ? My answer is,
the continuity of the water, and
heavier than the water,
of its
why
does
it
because in sinking
till its
surface
it,
is it
which
rises
up
in a
bank round
it
below the water, draws after and

it,
carries along
with
the air above
so that that
is
which, in this case, descends in the water
not only
the board of ebony or the plate of iron, but a com-
ebony and air, from which composition reno longer specifically heavier than the But, gentlewater, as was the ebony or gold alone. men, we want the same matter you are to alter nothing but the shape, and, therefore, have the goodness to remove this air, which may be done simply by
of
sults a solid
;
pound
io8

washing the surface of the board, for the water having once got between the board and the air will run together, and the ebony will go to the bottom; and if it does not, you have won the day. " But methinks I hear some of my antagonists cunningly opposing this, and telling me that they will not on any account allow their boards to be wetted, because the weight of the water so added, by making it heavier than it was before, draws it to the bottom, and that the addition of new weight is contrary to our agreement, which was that the matter should be the same. "To this I answer, first, that nobody can suppose bodies to be put into the water without their being wet, nor do I wish to do more to the board than you may do to the ball. Moreover, it is not true that the board sinks on account of the weight of the water added in the washing for I will put ten or twenty drops on the floating board, and so long as they stand separate it shall not sink; but if the board be taken out and all that water wiped off, and the whole surface bathed VNîth one single drop, and put it again upon the water, there is no question but it will sink, the other water running to cover it, being no longer hindered by the air. In the next place, it is altogether false that water can in any way increase the weight of bodies immersed in it, for water has no weight in water, since it does not sink. Now just as he who should say that brass by its own nature sinks, but that when formed into the shape of a kettle it acquires from that figure the virtue of lying in water without sinking, would say what is false, because that is not purely brass which then is put into the water, but a compound of brass and air;
;
109
so
is it
neither
brass or ebony swims
more nor less false that a thin plate of by virtue of its dilated and
broad
opponents that this conceit of refusing to bathe the surface of the board might beget an opinion in a third person
figure.
Also, I cannot omit to tell
my
of a poverty of
argument on
their side, especially as

ice, in
the conversation began about flakes of
which
it
would be simple to require that the surfaces should be kept dry; not to mention that such pieces of ice, whether wet or dry, always float, and so my antagonists say,
because of their shape.

that I affirm this power to be
"Some may wonder

water, as
if
above would attribute to the air a kind of magnetic virtue for sustaining heavy bodies with which it is in contact. To satisfy all these doubts I have contrived the following experiment to demonstrate how truly the air does support these bodies; for I have found, when one of these bodies which floats when placed lightly on the water is thoroughly bathed and sunk to the bottom, that by
in a certain sense I
in the air of keeping plate of brass or silver
carr3dng
down
it
to
it
little
air
without otherwise
it
touching
in the least, I top,
am
able to raise and carry
back to the
where it floats as before. To this effect, I take a ball of wax, and with a little lead make it just heavy enough to sink very slowly to the bottom, taking care that its surface be quite smooth and even. This, if put gently into the wâter, submerges almost
remaining visible only a little of the very top, which, so long as it is joined to the air, keeps the ball afloat but if we take away the contact of the air by wetting this top, the ball sinks to the bottom
entirely, there
;
no

and remains
surface
there.
Now
to
make
it
return to the
it,
by
virtue of the air which before sustained
thrust into the water a glass with the
mouth down-
ward, which will carry with it the air it contains, and move this down towards the ball until you see, by the transparency of the glass, that the air has reached the
then gently draw the glass upward, and you will see the ball rise, and afterwards stay on the top of the water, if you carefully part the glass and water without too much disturbing it." ' It will be seen that Galileo, while holding in the main to a correct thesis, yet mingles with it some false ideas. At the very outset, of course, it is not true that water has no resistance to penetration; it is true, however,
top of
it;
in the sense in
which Galileo uses the term
that
is
is
to
say, the resistance of the water to penetration
not
the determining factor ordinarily in deciding whether
not altogether inappropriate to say that the water resists penetration and thus supports the body. The modern physicist explains the phenomis
.
a body body it
sinks or floats.
Yet
in the case of the flat
Galileo's disquisition
enon as due to surface-tension of the fluid. Of course, on the mixing of air with the
were beautifully exact;
His experiments from them was, in this instance, altogether fallacious. Thus, as already intimated, his paper is admirably adapted to convey a double lesson to the student of science.
floating
is
body
utterly fanciful.
his theorizing
WILLIAM GILBERT AND THE STUDY OF MAGNETISM

be observed that the studies of Galileo and Stevinus were chiefly concerned with the force of
It will
III
gravitation.
Meanwhile, there was an English phi-
losopher of corresponding genius, whose attention

directed,
was
towards investigation of the equally mysterious force of terrestrial magnetism. With the Gilbert doubtful exception of Bacon, was the most distinguished man of science in England during the reign
of
Queen Elizabeth. He was for many years court and Queen Elizabeth ultimately settled upon him a pension that enabled him to continue his
physician,
researches in pure science.
His investigations in chemistry, although supposed but his great work, De Magnete, on which he labored for upwards
to be of great importance, are mostly lost
;
of eighteen years,
is
Hallam
says,
" to raise
a work of sufficient importance, as a lasting reputation for its
author." From its first appearance it created a profound impression upon the learned men of the continent, although in England Gilbert's theories seem to have been somewhat less favorably received. Galileo freely expressed his admiration for the work and its author; Bacon, who admired the author, did not express the same admiration for his theories; but Dr. Priestley, later, declared him to be " the father of
modem
electricity."
Strangely enough, Gilbert's book had never been

translated into English, or apparently into
any other
its
language, until recent years, although at the time of
publication certain learned men, unable to read the
book
in the original,
had asked that
it
this neglect, or oversight, a great
number
should be. By of general
readers as well as
centuries,
many scientists, through succeeding have been deprived of the benefit of writ112

ings that contained a good share of the fundamental
facts
about magnetism as known to-day.
Gilbert
was the
first
to discover that the earth
is
a great magnet, and he not only gave the name of "pole" to the extremities of the magnetic needle, but also spoke of these "poles" as north and south pole, although he used these names in the opposite sense from that in which we now use them, his south pole being the extremity which pointed towards the north, and vice versa. He was also first to make use of the terms "electric force," "electric emanations," and
"electric attractions."
It is hardly necessary to say that some of the views taken by Gilbert, many of his theories, and the accuracy of some of his experiments have in recent times been found to be erroneous. As a pioneer in an unexplored field of science, however, his work is re-
markably accurate.
the whole," says Dr. John Robinson, "this performance contains more real in-
"On
formation than any writing of the age in which he lived, and is scarcely exceeded by any that has appeared since." * In the preface to his work Gilbert says: "Since in the discovery of secret things, and in the investigation of hidden causes, stronger reasons are obtained from
sure experiments and demonstrated arguments than
from probable conjectures and the opinions

sophical speculators of the
of philo-
common
sort, therefore, to
the end of that noble substance of that great loadstone,
our
common mother
(the earth),
still
quite unknown,
globe
and also that the forces extraordinary and exalted of this may the better be understood, we have decided,
113
first,
to begin with the
common
stony and ferruginous

perceive with senses,
matter, and magnetic bodies, and the part of the earth
that
we may handle and may
and then to proceed with plain magnetic experiments, and to penetrate to the inner parts of the earth." ^
is
Before taking up the demonstration that the earth simply a giant loadstone, Gilbert demonstrated in
an ingenious way that every loadstone, of whatever He did this by size, has definite and fixed poles. metal lathe in and converting it stone a placing the into a sphere, and upon this sphere demonstrated how the poles can be found. To this round loadstone he gave the name of terrella that is, little earth.
"To
find, then, poles answering to the earth," he
say 9, "take in your hand the round stone, and lay on it a needle or a piece of iron wire the ends of the wire move round their middle point, and suddenly come to a standstill. Now, with ochre or with chalk, mark
:
where the wire lies still and sticks. Then move the middle or centre of the wire to another spot, and so to a third and fourth, always marking the stone along the length of the wire where it stands still the lines so
;
marked
will all
circle
will exhibit
meridian
circles,
;
or circles like
meridians, on the stone or terrella and manifestly they
come together at the poles of the stone. The being continued in this way, the poles appear, both the north and the south, and betwixt these, midway, we may draw a large circle for an equator, as is done by the astronomer in the heavens and on his spheres, and by the geographer on the terrestrial
globe."
'
Gilbert
had
tried the familiar
experiment of placing
114

the loadstone on a float in water, and observed that the poles always revolved until they pointed north and
which he explained as due to the earth's magIn this same connection he noticed that a piece of wrought iron mounted on a cork float was attracted by other metals to a slight degree, and he observed also that an ordinary iron bar, if suspend ed
south,
netic attraction.
by a thread, assumes invariably a north and south direction. These, with many other experiments of a similiar nature, convinced him that the earth "'is a magnet and a loadstone," which he says is a "new and till now unheard-of view of the earth."
horizontally
Fully to appreciate Gilbert's revolutionary views

should be remembered that numberless theories to explain the action of the electric needle had been advanced. Cokimbus
concerning the earth as a magnet,
it
and Paracelsus, for example, believed that the magnet was attracted by some point in the heavens, such as a magnetic star. Gilbert himself tells of some of the beliefs that had been held by his predecessors, many
he declares "wilfully falsify." One of his first steps was to refute by experiment such assertions as that of Cardan, that "a wound by a magnetized
of
whom
needle was painless "
and
also the assertion of Fracas;
toni that loadstone attracts silver or that of vScalinger,
that the diamond will attract iron and the statement

;
of Matthiolus that "iron
rubbed with
garlic is
no
longer attracted to the loadstone."

Gilbert
made
extensive experiments to explain the
William Norman.
led
dipping of the needle, which had been first noticed by His deduction as to this phenomenon
him
to believe that this
was
also explained
by the
115
magnetic attraction of the earth, and to predict where the vertical dip would be found. These deductions seem the more wonderful because at the time he made them the dip had just been discovered, and had not been studied except at London. His theory of the dip was, therefore, a scientific prediction, based on a preconceived hypothesis. Gilbert found the dip to be 72 at London; eight years later Hudson found the dip at 75 22' north latitude to be 89 30'; but it was not until over two hundred years later, in 1831, that the vertical dip was first observed by Sir James Ross at about 70 5' north latitude, and 96 43' west This was not the exact point assumed longitude.
by
Gilbert,
and
his scientific predictions,
therefore,
were not quite correct; but such comparatively slight and excusable errors mar but little the excellence of his work as a whole. A brief epitome of some of his other important discoveries suffices to
show that the exalted position in science accorded him by contemporaries, as well as succeeding generations of scientists, was well merited. He was first to distinguish between magnetism and He discovelectricity, giving the latter its name. ered also the "electrical charge," and pointed the way
10 the discovery of insulation by showing that the charge could be retained some time in the excited body by covering it with some non-conducting substance, such as silk; although, of course, electrical conduction can hardly be said to have been more than vaguely surmised, if understood at all by him. The
first electrical
instrument ever made, and known as such, was invented by him, as was also the first mag116

netometer, and the
first electrical
indicating device.
Although three centuries have elapsed since his death, the method of magnetizing iron first introduced by
is in common use to-day. He made exhaustive experiments with a needle balanced on a pivot to see how many substances he could
him
find which, like amber,
on being rubbed affected the
In this way he discovered that light substances were attracted by alum, mica, arsenic, sealingwax, lac sulphur, slags, beryl, amethyst, rock-crystal, sapphire, jet, carbuncle, diamond, opal, Bristol stone, glass, glass of antimony, gum -mastic, hard resin, rock-salt, and, of course, amber. He discovered
needle.
also that atmospheric conditions affected the produc-
tion of electricity, dryness being unfavorable and moisture favorable. Galileo's estimate of this first electrician is the ver" I extremely admire dict of succeeding generations.
and envy
this author," he said.
of the greatest praise for the
many new
"I think him worthy and true ob-
servations which, he has made, to the disgrace of so
many
vain and fabling authors."
STUDIES OF LIGHT, HEAT, AND ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
We have
fame
is
seen that Gilbert was

all
in versatility, yet the investigations
by no means lacking upon which his
founded were
that the father of magnetism
pursued along one line, so may be considered one
of the earliest of specialists in physical science.
Most
workers of the time, on the other hand, extended their

investigations in
scientific
VOL.
II.
many
directions.
The sum
total of
knowledge of that day had not bulked so

117
large as to exclude the possibility that one
man might
So we find a Galileo, for example, discoveries in astronomy, and performing fimdamental experiments in various fields Galileo's great contemporary, Kepler, of physics. was almost equally versatile, though his astronomical studies were of such pre-eminent importance that his
master
it
all.
making revolutionary
other investigations sink into relative insignificance. Yet he perforrned some notable experiments in at
had
one department of physics. These experiments do with the refraction of light, a subject which Kepler was led to investigate, in part at least, through
least
to
his interest in the telescope.
We
time,
tion.
have seen that Ptolemy in the Alexandrian and Alhazen, the Arab, made studies of refracKepler repeated their experiments, and,
striv-
ing as always to generalize his observations, he at-
tempted to find the law that governed the observed change of direction which a ray of light assumes in passing from one medium to another. Kepler measured the angle of refraction by means of a simple yet ingenious trough -like apparatus which enabled him
to compare readily the direct and refracted rays.
He
discovered that
glass plate,
if it
when a ray
of light passes
through a
strikes the farther surface of the glass

it will
at an angle greate rthan 45
be totally refracted instead of passing through into the air. He could not
well
fail
to
know
that different
for the
differently,
and that
mediums refract light same medium the amount
of light varies with the change in the angle of incidence.
He was
tions as he desired,
not able, however, to generalize his observaand to the last the law that gov118

erns refraction escaped him.
It
remained for Wille-
brord Snell, a Dutchman, about the year 162 1, to discover the law in question, and for Descartes, a little later, to formulate it. Descartes, indeed, has sometimes been supposed to be the discoverer of the law. There is reason to believe that he based his generalizations
on the experim.ent of
Snell,
though he did not
openly acknowledge his indebtedness. The law, as Descartes expressed it, states that the sine of the angle of incidence bears a fixed ratio to the sine of the angle Here, then, was of refraction for any given medium. another illustration of the fact that almost infinitely varied phenomena may be brought within the scope
of a simple law.
Once the law had been expressed,
it
could be tested and verified with the greatest ease; and, as usual, the discovery being m.ade, it seems surprising that earlier investigators
cious a guesser as Kepler

Galileo himself
should have missed

to
in particular so sagait.
must have been
student of light, since, as notable contributions to practical optics through perfecting the telescope but he seems not to have added
;
some extent a we have seen, he made such
anything to the theory of light. The subject of heat, however, attracted his attention in a somewhat different way, and he was led to the invention of the first contrivance for m.easuring temperatures. His thermometer was based on the afterwards familiar principle of the expansion of a liquid under the influence of heat but as a practical means of measuring temperature it was a very crude affair, because the tube
;
that contained the measuring liquid was exposed to the air, hence barometric changes of pressure vitiated the
119
remained for Galileo's Italian successors of the Accademia del Cimento of Florence to improve upon the apparatus, after the experiments of Torricelli to which we shall refer in a moment had light on the question of atmospheric pressnew thrown
experiment.
It
ure.
Still later
the celebrated Huygens hit upon the
melting and the boiling point of water as fixed points in a scale of measurements, which first gave definiteness to thermometric tests.
idea of using the
TORRICELLI
In the closing years of his life Galileo took into his family, as his adopted disciple in science, a young man, Evangelista Torricelli (i 608-1 647), who proved himself,
of his great master.
during his short lifetime, to be a worthy follower Not only worthy on account of
his great scientific discoveries,
but grateful as
well, for
when he had made the great discovery that the "suction" made by a vacuum was really nothing but air
and not suction at all, he regretted that so important a step in science might not have been made
pressure,
by
his great teacher, Galileo, instead of by himself. " This generosity of Torricelli," says Playfair, "was, per:
there are more who might have discovered the suspension of mercury in the barometer than who would have been willing to part with the honor of the discovery to a master or a friend." Torricelli's discovery was made in 1643, less than two years after the death of his master. Galileo had observed that water will not rise in an exhausted tube, such as a pump, to a height greater than thirty-three feet, but he was never able to ofler a satisfactory ex-
haps, rarer than his genius
120

planation of the principle.
Torricelli
was able
to de-
monstrate that the height at which the water stood depended upon nothing but its weight as compared with the weight of air. If this be true, it is evident that any fluid will be supported at a definite height, according to its relative weight as compared with air. Thus mercury, which is about thirteen times more dense than water, should only rise to one - thirteenth the height of a column of water that is, about thirty inches. Reasoning in this way, Torricelli proceeded to prove that his theory was correct. Filling a long tube, closed at one end, with mercury, he inverted the tiibe with its open orifice in a vessel of mercury. The column of mercury fell at once, but at a height of about thirty inches it stopped and remained stationary, the pressure of the air on the mercury in the vesThis discovery was sel maintaining it at that height. a shattering blow to the old theory that had dominated
It was that field of physics for so many centuries. completely revolutionary to prove that, instead of a mysterious something within the tube bein^ responsible for the
it
suspension of liquids at certain heights,
was simply the ordinary atmospheric pressure mysterious enough, it is true pushing upon them from without. The pressure exerted by the atmosphere was but little understood at that time, but Torricelli'
discovery aided materially in solving the mystery.
The whole class of similar phenomena of air pressure, which had been held in the trammel of long-established but false doctrines, was now reduced to one simple law, and the door to a solution of a host of unsolved problems thrown open.
121
It had long been suspected and believed that the density of the atmosphere varies at certain times.
That the
air is
"light" is apparatus for demonstration.
sometimes "heavy" and at other times apparent to the senses without scientific
It
is
evident,
then,
that Torricelli's column of mercury should rise and fall just in proportion to the lightness or heaviness of the air. A short series of observations proved that it did
and with those observations went naturally the It was only necessary, therefore, to scratch a scale on the
so,
observations as to changes in the weather.
glass tube, indicating relative atmospheric pressures,
and the Torricellian barometer was complete. Such a revolutionary theory and such an important discovery were, of course, not to be accepted without controversy, but the feeble arguments of the opponents showed how untenable the old theor}'- had become.
In 1648 Pascal suggested that if the theory of the pressure of air upon the mercury was correct, it
could be demonstrated by ascending a mountain with the mercury tube. As the air was known to get pro-
from base to summit, the height of the column should be progressively lessened as the ascent was made, and increase again on the descent into the denser air. The experiment was made on the mountain called the Puy-de-D6me, in Auvergne, and the column of mercury fell and rose progressively through a space of about three inches as the ascent and descent were made. This experiment practically sealed the verdict on the new theory, but it also suggested something more. If the mercury descended to a certain mark on the
gressively lighter
122
BLAISE PASCAL
(From the painting by Philippe de Champagne.)

on a mountain - top whose height was known, not this a means of measurmg the heights of all other elevations? And so the beginning was made which, with certain modifications and correcscale
why was
tions
in
details,
is
now
the basis of barometrical
measurements
one of the
of heights.
also, Torricelli
In hydraulics,
first steps.
He
did this
seems to have taken by showing that
the wâter which issues from a hole in the side or botof a vessel does so at the same velocity as that which a body would acquire by falling from the level This of the surface of the water to that of the orifice. discovery was of the greatest importance to a correct understanding of the science of the motions of fluids. He also discovered the valuable mechanical principle that if any number of bodies be connected so that by their motion there is neither ascent nor descent of their
tom
centre of gravity, these bodies are in equilibrium.
Besides making these discoveries, he greatly improved the microscope and the telescope, and invented a simple microscope made of a globule of glass. In 1644 he published a tract on the properties of the C3xloid in which he suggested a solution of the problem of its quadrature. As soon as this pamphlet appeared its author was accused by Gilles Roberval (1602-16 7 5) of having appropriated a solution already offered by him. This led to a long debate, during which Torricelli was seized with a fever, from the effects of which he died, in Florence, October 25, 1647. There is reason to believe, however, that while Roberval's
discovery was
made before
Torricelli's,
the latter reach-
ed his conclusions independently.

123
VI
TWO
IN
PSEUDO-SCIENCES ALCHEMY AND
ASTROLOGY
recent chapters we have seen science come forward with tremendous strides. A new era is obviously at hand. But we shall misconceive the spirit
of the times
if
we
fail
to understand that in the midst
of all this progress there
was
still
room
for
medieval
superstition
and
for the pursuit of fallacious ideals.
forms of pseudo- science were peculiarly prevalent Neither of these can with full propriety be called a science, yet both were pursued b}'' many of the greatest scientific workers of the
alchemy and astrology.

period.
Two
Moreover, the studies of the alchemist may with some propriety be said to have laid the foundation for the latter-day science of chemistry; while astrology was closely allied to astronomy, though its relations to that science are not as intimate as has
sometimes been supposed. Just when the study of alchemy began is undetermined. It wâs certainly of very ancient origin, perhaps Egyptian, but its most flourishing time was from about the eighth century a.d. to the eighteenth century. The stories of the Old Testament formed a basis for some
of the strange beliefs regarding the properties of the Alchemists magic elixir, " or " philosopher' s stone
' . ' '
'
believed that most of the antediluvians, perhaps
all
of
124
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
them, possessed a knowledge of this stone. How, otherwise, could they have prolonged their lives to nine and a half centuries? And Moses was surely a first-rate alchemist, as is proved by the story of the Golden Calf.^ After Aaron had made the calf of gold, Moses performed the much more difficult task of grinding it to powder and "strewing it upon the waters," thus showing that he had transmuted it into some
lighter substance.
But antediluvians and

the only persons the coveted "elixir."
ery,
Biblical characters
who were thought

Hundreds
to
of
were not have discovered aged mediaeval

the discov-
chemists were credited with having

turies
made
and were thought to be living on through the cenby its means. Alaies de Lisle, for example, who died in 1298, at the age of no, was alleged to have been at the point of death at the age of fifty, but
just at this time he
made
the fortunate discovery of
the magic stone, and so continued to live in health and affluence for sixty years more. And De Lisle was
but one case among hundreds. An aged and wealthy alchemist could claim with seeming plausibility that he was prolonging his life by his magic; whereas a younger man might assert that, knowing the great secret, he was keeping himIn either case such self young through the centuries. a statement, or rumor, about a learned and wealthy alchemist was likely to be believed, particularly among strangers and as such a man would, of course, be the
;
object of
much
attention, the claim
made by
persons seeking notoriety.

125
was frequently One of the most
celebrated of these impostors
was a certain Count de
who was connected with the court of His statements carried the more weight because, having apparently no means of maintenance, he continued to live in affluence year after year for two thousand years, as he himself admitted ^by means If at any time his statements of the magic stone.
Saint-Germain,
Louis
XV.
were doubted, he was
in the habit of referring to his
valet for confirmiation, this valet being also imder the

influence of the elixir of
life.
"Upon one
of ladies
occasion his master was telling a party
and gentlemen, at dinner, some conversation he had had in Palestine, with King Richard I., of
England,
of his.
visible
whom he described
of the
as a very particular friend
Signs of astonishment and incredulity were
on the faces
company, upon which Saint-
Germiain very coolly turned to his servant, who stood behind his chair, and asked him if he had not spoken I really cannot say,' replied the man, the truth. without moving a muscle you forget, sir, I have been only five hundred years in your serA^ce.' 'Ah, true,' said his master, I remember now it was a little before
'
'
'
your time!'"
In the time of Saint -Germain, only a little over a century ago, behef in alchemy had almost disappeared, and his extraordinary tales were probably regarded in the light of amusing stories. Still there was undoubtedly a lingering suspicion in the minds of many that
this
man
possessed some peculiar secret.
turies earlier his tales
A few cenwould hardly have been ques-
tioned, for at that time the belief in the existence of

this
for it
magic something was so strong that the search became almost a form of mania and once a man
;
126
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
was and
seized with
life itself
it,
he gambled away health, position,
in pursuing the coveted stake.
An
ex-
ample of this is seen in Albertus Magnus, one of the most learned men of his time, who it is said resigned his position as bishop of Ratisbon in order that he might pursue his researches in alchemy. If self-sacrifice was not sufficient to secure the prize, crime would naturally follow, for there could be no The limit to the price of the stakes in this game. notorious Marechal de Reys, failing to find the coveted stone by ordinary methods of laboratory research, was persuaded by an im^postor that if he would propitiate the friendship of the devil the secret would be reTo this end De Reys began secretly capturing vealed. young children as they passed his castle and murdering them. When he was at last brought to justice it was proved that he had murdered something like a hundred children within a period of three years. So, at least, runs one version of the stor}?- of this perverted
being.
Naturally monarchs, constantly in need of funds, were interested in these alchemists. Even sober England did not escape, and Raymond Lully, one of the most famous of the thirteenth and fourteenth century alchemists, is said to have been secretly invited by King. Edward I. (or II.) to leave Milan and settle in England. According to some accounts, apartments were assigned to his use in the Tower of London, where he is alleged to have made some six million pounds sterling for the monarch, out of iron, mercury, lead, and pewter. Pope John XXII., a friend and pupil of the alchemist
127
Arnold de Villeneuve, is reported to have learned the Later he issued secrets of alchemy from his master. two bulls against "pretenders" in the art, which, far from showing his disbelief, were cited by alchemists as proving that he recognized pretenders as distinct from true masters of magic. To moderns the attitude of mind of the alchemist It is, perhaps, possible to is difficult to comprehend. conceive of animals or plants possessing souls, but
the early alchemist attributed the same thing
Furthermore, to metals also. something kin to it metals were from seeds, so just as plants germinated supposed to germinate also, and hence a constant growth of metals in the groimd. To prove this the alchemist cited cases where previously exhausted goldmines were found, after a lapse of time, to contain The " seed" of the remaining fresh quantities of gold.
particles of gold
this
or
had multiplied and
increased.
But
germinating process could only take place under favorable conditions, just as the seed of a plant must have its proper surroundings before germinating; and
was believed that the action of the philosopher's stone was to hasten this process, as man may hasten the growth of plants by artificial means. Gold was looked upon as the most perfect metal, and all other metals By some alimperfect, because not yet "purified."
it
chemists they were regarded as lepers, who, w^hen cured And since natof their leprosy, would become gold.
ure intended that all things should be perfect, it was the aim of the alchemist to assist her in this purifying process, and incidentally to gain wealth and prolong
his
life.
128
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
By
other alchemists the process of transition from
baser metals into gold was conceived to be like a proThe ripened product was gold, cess of ripening fruit.
while the green
fruit, in
various stages of maturity,
was represented by the base metals. Silver, for example, was more nearly ripe than lead; but the difference was only one of "digestion," and it was thought that by further "digestion" lead might first become In other words. Nature silver and eventually gold. had not completed her work, and was wofully slow at it at best but man, with his superior faculties, was to
;
hasten the process in his laboratories hit upon the right method of doing so.
if
he could but
It should not be inferred that the alchemist set about his task of assisting nature in a haphazard way, and without training in the various alchemic laboratory methods. On the contrary, he usually served a long apprenticeship in the rudiments of his calling. He was obliged to learn, in a general way, many of the same things that rnust be understood in either chemical or alchemical laboratories. The general knowledge that certain liquids vaporize at lower temperatures than others, and that the melting-points of metals differ greatly, for example, was just as necessary to alchemy as to chemistry. The knowledge of the gross
structure, or nature, of materials
was much the same
to the alchemist as to the chemist, and, for that matter,
many
of the experiments in calcining, distilling, etc.,

identical.
were practically
sulphur,
ciples
To the alchemist
were the
and mercury
and the sources of these prinfour elements earth, water, and

there were three principles
salt,
fire,
129
These four elements were accountable for every Some of the experiments to illusive, and yet apparently so simwere so prove this ple, that one is not surprised that it took centuries to disprove them. That water was composed of earth and air seemed easily proven by the simple process of
air.
substance in nature.
boiling
it
in a tea-kettle, for the residue left
was ob-
viously an earthy substance, whereas the steam driven

leaves no residue
sible also to
air. The fact that pure water was not demonstrated until after alchemy had practically ceased to exist. It was pos-
off
was supposed
to be
demonstrate that water could be turned
into
glass
fire
by thrusting a red-hot poker under a bellcontaining a dish of water. Not only did the
was thrust under the
quantity of water diminish, but, if a lighted candle glass, the contents ignited and
burned, proving, apparently, that water had been converted into fire. These, and scores of other similar
experiments, seemed so easily explained, and to accord so well with the "four elements" theory, that
they were seldom questioned until a later age of inductive science. But there was one experiment to which the alchemist pinned his faith in showing that metals could be "killed" and "revived," when proper means were emIt had been known for many centuries that ployed. if any metal, other than gold or silver, were calcined in an open crucible, it turned, after a time, into a peculiar kind of ash.
This ash was thought by the
al-
chemist to represent the death of the metal. But if to this same ash a few grains of wheat were added and heat again applied to the crucible, the metal was
130
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
seen to "rise from its ashes" and resume its original form a well-known phenomenon of reducing metals from oxides by the use of carbon, in the form of wheat, or, for that matter, any other carbonaceous substance. Wheat was, therefore, made the symbol of the resur-
rection of the
life
eternal.
Oats, corn, or a piece of
charcoal would have "revived" the metals from the

ashes equally well, but the mediaeval alchemist seems not to have known this. However, in this experiment the metal seemed actually to be destroyed and revivified, and, as science had not as yet explained this
striking
phenomenon,
it
is
little
wonder that
it
de-
ceived the alchemist.

Since the alchemists pursued their search of the
magic stone
-the
in
such a methodical way,
it
would seem
that they must have some idea of the appearance of
substance they sought.
according to his
own mental
.to
Probably they did, each bias but, if so, they sel;
dom committed
themselves to writing, confining their

speculations as to the properties
discourses largely
Furthermore, the desire for secrecy would prevent them from expressing so important a piece of information. But on the subject of the properties, if not on the appearance of the "essence," they were voluminous writers. It was supposed to be the only perfect substance in existence,
of this illusive substance.
and to be confined
in various substances, in quantities
proportionate to the state of perfection of the substance.
Thus, gold being most nearly perfect would contain more, silver less, lead still less, and so on. The "essence" contained in the more nearly perfect metals
was thought
to be
more potent, a very small quantity

131
of
it
being capable of creating large quantities of gold

of prolonging life indefinitely.
and
It
would appear from many
of the writings of the
alchemists that their conception of nature and the
supernatural was so confused and entangled in an inexplicable philosophy that they themselves did not really
understand the meaning of what they were attempting to convey. But it should not be forgotten that alchemy was kept as much as possible from the ignorant general public, and the alchemists themselves had knowledge of secret words and expressions which conveyed a definite meaning to one of their number, but which would appear a meaningless jumble to an outSome of these writers declared openly that sider. their writings were intended to convey an entirely erroneous impression, and were sent out only for that
purpose.
However, while
is
it
may have been
true that the va-
garies of their writings
were made purposely, the case
probably more correctly explained by saying that
the very nature of the art made definite statements They were dealing with something that impossible. did not exist could not exist. Their attempted de-
scriptions became, therefore, the language of
romance
rather than the language of science. But if the alchemists themselves were usually silent as to the appearance of the actual substance of the
philosopher's
writers
stone,
there
were
numberless
it
other
who were
less reticent.
By some
posed to be a stone, by others a liquid more commonly it was described as a black powder.
132
was supor elixir, but
It also possessed different degrees of efficiency accord-
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
ing to
its degrees of purity, certain forms only possessing the power of turning base metals into gold, while
others gave eternal youth and

of health.
life
or different degrees
partial
Thus an alchemist, who had made a

life
discovery of this substance, could prolong
a certain
number of years only, or, possessing only a small and inadequate amount of the magic powder, he was obliged to give up the ghost when the effect of this
small quantity had passed away.
This belief in the supernatural power of the philosopher's stone to prolong

life
and heal diseases was
probably a later phase of alchemy, possibly developed to connect the power of the mysterious essence with Biblical teachings. The early Roman alchemists, who claimed to be able to transmute metals, seem not to have made other claims for their .magic stone. By the fifteenth century the belief in the philoso-
by attempts
pher's stone
had become
lest
so fixed that
governments
of the
began to be alarmed
some lucky possessor

little
secret should flood the country with gold, thus ren-
dering the existing coin of

consolation
value.
Some
little
thought that in case all the baser metals were converted into gold iron would then become the "precious metal," and would remain
in the
was found
so until some new philosopher's stone was found to convert gold back into iron a much more difficult feat, it was thought. However, to be on the safe side, the English Parliament, in 1404, saw fit to pass an act
declaring the
making
of gold
and
silver to
be a felony.
Nevertheless, in 1455, King Henry VI. granted permission to several "knights, citizens of London,
VOL.
II.
10
n,"^
chemists, and
off its debts.
monks"
to find the philosopher's stone,
or eHxir, that the crown might thus be enabled to
posed to since " they were such
pay The monks and ecclesiastics were supbe most likely to discover the secret process,
good
artists in transubstanti-
ating bread and wine."
In Germany the emperors Maximilian
I.,
Rudolf
II.,
and Frederick II. gave considerable attention to the search, and the example they set was followed by thousands of their subjects. It is said that some noblemen developed the unpleasant custom of inviting to their courts men who were reputed to have found the stone, and then imprisoning the poor alchemists until they had made a certain quantity of gold, stimulating their activity with tortures of the most atrocious kinds. Thus this danger of being imprisoned and held for ransom until some fabulous amount of gold should be made became the constant menace of the alchemist. It was useless for an alchemist to plead poverty once it was noised about that he had learned the secret. For how could such a man be poor when, with a piece of metal and a few grains of magic powder, he was
It was, therefore, ? a reckless alchemist indeed who dared boast that he had made the coveted discovery. The fate of a certain indiscreet alchemist, supposed by many to have been Seton, a Scotchman, was not an uncommon one. Word having been brought to the
able to provide himself with gold
elector of
Saxony that this alchemist was in Dresden and boasting of his powers, the elector caused him to be arrested and imprisoned. Forty guards were stationed to see that he did not escape and that no
134
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
one visited him save the elector himself. For some time the elector tried by argument and persuasion to penetrate his secret or to induce him to make a certain quantity of gold; but as Seton steadily refused, the rack was tried, and for several months he suffered torture, until finally, reduced to a mere skeleton, he was
rescued by a rival candidate of the elector, a Pole
Sendivogins, who drugged the guards. However, before Seton could be "persuaded" by his new captor, he died of his injuries.
named Michael
But Sendivogins was also ambitious in alchemy, and, was beyond his reach, he took the next best step and married his widow. From her, as the story goes, he received an ounce of black powder the veritable philosopher's stone. With this he manusince Seton
factured great quantities of gold, even inviting
EmThat
peror Rudolf
II.
to see
him work the
miracle.
monarch was
so impressed that he caused a tablet to
be inserted in the wall of the room in which he had seen the gold made. Sendivogins had learned discretion from the misfortune of Seton, so that he took the precaution of
concealing most of the precious powder in a secret
chamber
of his
carriage
when he
travelled,
having
only a small quantity carried by his steward in a gold box. In particularly dangerous places, he is said to
have exchanged clothes with
his
coachman, mak-
ing the servant take his place in the carriage while he
mounted the box.

About the middle
of the seventeenth century alchesuch firm root in the religious field that it be-
my took
135
came the basis of the sect known as the Rosicrucians. The name was derived from the teaching of a German
philosopher, Rosenkreutz, who, having been healed of
a dangerous illness by an Arabian supposed to possess the philosopher's stone, returned home and gathered about him a chosen band of friends, to whom he imparted the secret. This sect came rapidly into prominence, and for a short time at least created a sensation
in Europe,
and at the time were credited with having But by the end "refined and spiritualized" alchemy. of the seventeenth century their number had dwindled to a mere handful, and henceforth they exerted little
Another and
earlier religious sect
influence.
crucians, founded
in Prussia in
was the Aureaby Jacob Bohme, a shoemaker, born
According to his teachings the philosopher's stone could be discovered by a diligent search of the Old and the New Testaments, and more particularly the Apocalypse, which contained all the This sect found quite a number secrets of alchemy. of followers during the life of Bohme, but gradually died out after his death not, however, until many of its members had been tortured for heresy, and one at least, Kuhlmann, of Moscow, burned as a sorcerer.
1575.
;
The names
of the different substances that at various
times were thought to contain the large quantities of

the "essence" during the
many
centuries of searching
for it, form a list of practically all substances that were known, discovered, or invented during the period.
Some
believed that acids contained the substance;

it
others sought
in minerals or in animal or vegetable

still
products; while
others looked to find
it
among
136
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
the distilled "spirits"
tilled
the
it
alcoholic liquors
and
dis-
products.
On
the introduction of alcohol
by
the Arabs that substance became of all-absorbing interest, and for a long time allured the alchemist into
believing that through
ed.
they were soon to be rewardit
They
rectified
and refined
it
until
"sometimes
it
broke the vessels containing it," but still it failed in its magic power. Later, brandy was substituted for it, and this in turn discarded for
so strong that
was
more recent
:
discoveries.
There were always, of course, two classes of alchemists serious investigators whose honesty could not be questioned, and clever impostors whose legerdemain was probably largely responsible for the extended belief
in the existence of the philosopher's stone.
Some-
times an alchemist practised both, using the profits of his sleight-of-hand to procure the means of carrying
The impostures most inof telligent and learned men of the time, and so kept the flame of hope constantly burning. The age of cold investigation had not arrived, and it is easy to underon
his serious alchemical researches.
some
of these jugglers deceived even the
stand how an unscrupulous mediaeval Hermann or Kellar might completely deceive even the most intelligent
and thoughtful
scholars.
it
In scoffing at the
credulity of such an age,
should not be forgotten
that the "Keely motor" was a late nineteenth-century

illusion.
But long before the belief in the philosopher's stone had died out, the methods of the legerdemain alchemist had been investigated and reported upon officially by
bodies of
men
appointed to
make such
investigations,
137
although it took several generations completely to overthrow a superstition that had been handed down through several thousand years. In April of 1772 Monsieur Geoffroy made a report to the Royal Academy of Sciences, at Paris, on the alchemic cheats principally of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this report he explains many of the seemingly marvellous feats of the imscrupulous alchemists. A very common form of deception was the use of a doublebottomed crucible. A copper or brass crucible was covered on the inside with a layer of wax, cleverly painted so as to resemble the ordinary metal. Between this layer of wax and the bottom of the crucible, however, was a layer of gold dust or silver. When the alchemist wished to demonstrate his power, he had but to place some mercury or whatever substance he chose in the crucible, heat it, throw in a grain or two of some mysterious powder, pronounce a few equally mysterious phrases to impress his audience, and, behold, a lump of precious metal would be found in the bottom of his pot. This was the favorite method of mediocre performers, but was, of course, easily detected.
An
equally successful but
to insert surreptitiously a
more difficult way was lump of metal into the

This required
mixture, using an ordinary crucible.

great dexterity, but
was facilitated by the use of many mysterious ceremonies on the part of the operator while performing, just as the modern vaudeville performer
diverts the attention of the audience to his right
hand
while his
Such ceremonies left is engaged in the trick. were not questioned, for it was the common belief
138
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
that the whole process
'
'
lay in the spirit as
much
as in
the substance," many, as
we have
seen, regarding the
whole process as a divine manifestation. Sometimes a hollow rod was used for stirring the mixture in the crucible, this rod containing gold dust, and having the end plugged either with wax or soft metal that was easily melted. Again, pieces of lead were used which had been plugged with lumps of gold carefully covered over; and a very simple and impressive demonstration was making use of a nugget of gold that had been coated over with quicksilver and tarnished so as to resemble lead or some base metal. When this was thrown into acid the coating was removed by chemical action, leaving the shining metal In order to perform some in the bottom of the vessel. of these tricks, it is obvious that the alchemist must have been well supplied with gold, as some of them, when performing before a royal audience, gave the products to their visitors. But it was always a paying investment, for once his reputation was established the gold-maker found an endless variety of ways of turning his alleged knowledge to account, frequently amassing great wealth.
Some
of the cleverest of the charlatans often invited
royal or other distinguished guests to bring with

iron nails to be turned into gold ones.
of
them They were
transmuted in the alchemist's crucible before the eyes

the visitors, the juggler adroitly extracting the
iron nail
It
and inserting a gold one without detection.
in size
mattered little if the converted gold nail differed and shape from the original, for this change in shape could be laid to the process of transmutation;
139
critical were hardly likely to find exchange thus made. Furthermore, it was believed that gold possessed the property of changing its bulk under certain conditions, some of the more conservative alchemists maintaining that gold was only increased in bulk, not necessarily created, by cerThus a very proficient tain forms of the magic stone. operator was thought to be able to increase a grain of gold into a pound of pure metal, while one less expert
and even the very

fault with the
could only double, or possibly treble,
its original
weight.
The actual number

from the
efforts of
of useful discoveries resulting
the
alchemists
is
considerable,
some
of
them
of incalculable value.
Roger Bacon,
who lived in the thirteenth century, while devoting much of his time to alchemy, made such valuable discoveries as the theory, at least, of the telescope,
Of this was his not learned of it through the source of old manuscripts. But it is not impossible nor improbable that he may have hit upon the mixture that makes the explosives
probably gunpowder.
sure that the discovery
and latter we cannot be own and that he had
while searching for the philosopher's stone in his lab"Von Helmont, in the same pursuit, disoratory.
coverd the properties of gas," says Mackay; "Geber made discoveries in chemistry, which were equally important and Paracelsus, amid his perpetual visions of the transmutation of metals, found that mercury was
;
a remedy for one of the most odious and excruciating of all the diseases that afflict humanity." ^ As we shall see a little farther on, alchemy finally evolved into modern chemistry, but not until it had passed
through several important transitional stages.

140
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
ASTROLOGY
In a general
way modern astronomy may be
con-
sidered as the outgrowth of astrology, just as modern chemistry is the result of alchemy. It is quite possible, however, that astronomy is the older of the two but astrology must have developed very shortly after. The primitive astronomer, having acquired enough
;
knowledge from
to
his observations of the
heavenly bodies
make
correct predictions, such as the time of the
coming
of the
new moon, would be
led, naturally, to
believe that certain predictions other than purely as-
tronomical ones could be

ens.
this,
made by studying
the heav-
Even
some
if
the astronomer himself did not believe
of his superstitious admirers would; for to
the unscientific
mind
predictions of earthly events
would surely seem no more miraculous than correct

predictions as to the future
movements
of the sun,
moon, and stars. When astronomy had reached a stage of development so that such things as eclipses could be predicted with anything like accuracy, the occult knowledge of the astronomer would be tmquestioned. Turning this apparently occult knowledge to account in a mercenary way would then be the inevitable result, although it cannot be doubted that many of the astrologers, in all ages, were sincere in their
beliefs.
Later, as the business of astrology to practise astrology as a
became a
it
profit-
able one, sincere astronomers would find
expedient
means of gaining a livelihood. Such a philosopher as Kepler freely admitted that he practised astrology "to keep from starving," al141
though he confessed no faith in such predictions. " Ye otherwise philosophers," he said, "ye censure this daughter of astronomy beyond her deserts; know ye not that she must support her mother by her charms." Once astrology had become an established practice, any considerable knowledge of astronomy was unnecessary, for as it was at best but a system of good
guessing as to future events, clever impostors could
thrive equally well without troubling to study astron-
omy.
were usually astronomers as well, and undoubtedly based many of their predictions on the position and movements of the heavenly bodies. Thus, the casting of a horoscope that is, the methods by which the astrologers ascertained the relative position of the heavenly bodies at the time of a birth was a simple but fairly exact procedure. Its basis was the zodiac, or the path traced by the sun in his yearly course through certain constellations. At the moment of the birth of a child,
astrologers, however,
The celebrated
the
first
care of the astrologer
was
to note the partic-
ular part of the zodiac that appeared on the horizon.
The zodiac was then divided

into twelve spaces
into
"houses"
on a chart.
When
that
is,
inserted the places of the planets, sun,
reference to the zodiac.
In these houses were and moon, with this chart was com-
pleted
diagram of the heavens and the position of the heavenly bodies as they would appear to a person standing at the place of birth at a
it
made
a fairly correct
certain time.
was a simple one of astronomy. But the next step the really important one that of interpreting this chart, was the one which
to this point the process
Up
142
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
called forth the skill
and imagination
of the astrologer.
In this interpretation, not in his mere observations, Nor did his task cease lay the secret of his success. with simply foretelling future events that were to happen in the life of the newly born infant. He must not
by they could be
only point out the dangers, but show the means whereaverted, and his prophylactic meas-
ures, like his predictions,
were alleged to be based on

at the time of births was,
his reading of the stars.
But casting a horoscope

His
offices
of course, only a small part of the astrologer's duty.
were sought by persons of
all
ages for pre-
the movements of an enemy, where to find stolen goods, and a host of everyday occurrences. In such cases it is more than probable that the astrologers did very little consulting of
dictions as to their futures,
the stars in making their predictions.

nature,
They became
expert physiognomists and excellent judges of
human
and were thus able to foretell futures with the same shrewdness and by the same methods as the modern "mediums," palmists, and fortune-tellers. To strengthen belief in their powers, it became a common thing for some supposedly lost document of the astrologer to be mysteriously discovered after an important event, this document purporting to foretell this very event. It was also a common practice with astrologers to retain, or have access to, their original charts, cleverly altering them from time to time to fit
conditions.
The dangers attendant upon astrology were of such a nature that the lot of the astrologer was likely to prove anything but an enviable one. As in the case of
143
the alchemist, the greater the reputation of an astrologer the greater dangers he was likely to fall into. If he became so famous that he was employed by kings or noblemen, his too true or too false prophecies were
likely to bring
him
into disrepute
even to endanger
skilful
his
life.
Throughout the dark age the astrologers flourished, but the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the
golden age of these impostors.
astrologer
was as much an essential to the government as the highest official, and it would have been a bold monarch, indeed, who would undertake any expedition of importance unless sanctioned by the governing stars as interpreted by these officials.
It should
not be understood, however, that belief in
astrology died with the advent of the Copernican doc-
become separated from astronomy very shortly after, to be sure, and undoubtedly among the But it cannot scientists it lost much of its prestige.
trine.
It did
be considered as entirely passed away, even to-day, and even if we leave out of consideration street-corner "astrologers" and fortune-tellers, whose signs may be seen in every large city, there still remains quite a large
class of relatively intelligent
people
who
believe in
what
they call "the science of astrology."

say,
Needthe
less to
such people are not found
among
but it is significant that scarcely a year passes that some book or pamphlet is not published by some ardent believer in astrology, attempting to prove by the illogical dogmas characteristic of
scientific thinkers;
unscientific thinkers that astrology
is
a science.
The
arguments contained in these pamphlets are very

144
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
the same as those of the astrologers three hundred years ago, except that they lack the quaint form of wording which is one of the features that lends interest to the older documents. These pamphlets need not be taken seriously, but they are interesting as exemplifying how difficult it is, even in an age of science, to entirely stamp out firmly established super-
much
Here are some of the arguments advanced from a little brochure entitled "Astrology Vindicated," published in 1898: It will be found that a person born when the Sun is in twenty degrees Scorpio has the left ear as his exceptional feature and the nose (Sagittarius) bent towards the left ear. A person born when the Sun is in any of the latter degrees of Taurus, say the twenty -fifth degree, will have a small, sharp, weak chin, curved up towards Gemini, the two vertical lines on the upper lip." * The time was when science went out of its way to prove that such statements were untrue; but that time is past, and such writers are usually classed among those energetic but misguided persons who are unable to distinguish between logic and sophistry.
stitions.
in defence of astrology, taken
In England, from the time of Elizabeth to the reign of William and Mary, judicial astrology was at its
height.
After the great London
fire,
in 1666, a
com-
mittee of the House of
Commons
publicly
summoned
the famous astrologer, Lilly, to come before Parliament and report to them on his alleged prediction
of the calamity that
for
had befallen the city. Lilly, some reason best known to himself, denied hav145
ing
made such a prediction, being, as he explained, "more interested in determining affairs of much more
Some
of the explanations of his interpretations will
importance to the future welfare of the country."
show their absurdities, which, however, were regarded as absurdities at that time, for means by no Lilly was one of the greatest astrologers of his day. He said that in 1588 a prophecy had been printed in Greek characters which foretold exactly the troubles "And of England between the years 1641 and 1660. after him shall come a dreadful dead man," ran the prophecy, "and with him a royal G of the best blood in the world, and he shall have the crown and shall set England on the right way and put out all heresies." His interpretation of this was that, "Monkery being extinguished above eighty or ninety years, and the Lord General's name being Monk, is the dead man. The royal G or C (it is gamma in the Greek, intending
suffice to
C
is
in the Latin, being the third letter in the alphabet)
Charles
IL, who, for his extraction,

^
may be
said
to be of the best blood of the world."
This
may be
taken as a
fair
sample of
Lilly's inter-
pretations of astrological prophesies, but
many
his
of his
own writings,
are
still
while somewhat more definite and direct,

sufficiently
left
vague to allow
skilful
interpretations to set right an apparent mistake.

of his
One
famous documents was "The Starry Messenger," pamphlet purporting to explain the phenomlittle a enon of a "strange apparition of three suns " that were the anniseen in London on November 19, 1644
versary of the birth of Charles

ing monarch.
then the reignThis phenomenon caused a great stir

I.,
146
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
the English astrologers, coming, as it did, at a time of great political disturbance. Prophecies were numerous, and Lilly's brochure is only one of many that
among
appeared at that time, most of which, however, have been lost. Lilly, in his preface, says: "If there be any of so prevaricate a judgment as to think that the apparition of these three Suns doth intimate no Novella thing to happen in our own Climate, where they were manifestly visible, I shall lament their indisposition, and conceive their brains to be shallow, and voyde of understanding humanity, or notice of com-
mon
History."
Having thus forgiven his few doubting readers, who were by no means in the majority in his day, he takes up in review the records of the various appearances of three suns as they have occurred during the Christian era, showing how such phenomena have governed
certain
events in a very definite manner. Some worth recording. "Anno 66. A comet was seen, and also three Suns: In which yeer, Florus President of the Jews was by them slain. Paul writes to Timothy. The Christians are warned by a divine Oracle, and depart out of Boadice a British Queen, killeth seventy Jerusalem. thousand Romans. The Nazareni, a scurvie Sect, begun, that boasted much of Revelations and Visions. About a year after Nero was proclaimed enemy to
human
of these are
the State of Rome." Again,
"Anno
three Suns
1157, in September, there were seen together, in as clear weather as could be:
And
and, in the
a few days after, in the same month, three Moons, Moon that stood in the middle, a white
147
Crosse.
eth Canutus Sueno

:
mar.
Sueno, King of Denmark, at a great Feast, killis himself slain, in pursuit of WaldeThe Order of Eremites, according to the rule of
;
and in the next, the Pope submits to the Emperour (was not this miraculous?) Lombardy was also adjudged to the Emperour." Continuing this list of peculiar phenomena he comes
Saint Augustine, begun this year
:
down to within a few years of his own time. "Anno 1622, three Suns appeared at Heidelberg.
upon and of the loss of it, for any thing I see, for ever, from the right Heir. Osman the great Turk is strangled that year; and Spinola besiegeth Bergen up Zoom, etc." Fortified by the enumeration of these past events, he then proceeds to make his deductions. " Only this I must tell thee," he writes, " that the interpretation I write is, I conceive, grounded upon probable foundations; and who lives to see a few years over his head, will easily perceive I have unfolded as much as was fit to discover, and that my judgment was not a mile and a half from truth." There is a great significance in this "as much as was fit to discover" a mysterious something that
since fallen
The woful Calamities that have ever

the Palatinate,
we
are
all
sensible of,
not to divulge. But, nevertheless, one would imagine that he was about to make some definite prediction about Charles I., since these three suns appeared upon his birthday and But surely must portend something concerning him. after rambling on through many pages of dissertations upon planets and prophecies, he finally makes
Lilly thinks it expedient
his
own
indefinite prediction.
148
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
"O
is like
all
you Emperors, Kings,
Princes, Rulers
and
Magistrates of Europe, this unaccustomed Apparition
the Handwriting in Daniel to some of you; it premonisheth you, above all other people, to make your peace with God in time. You shall every one of you smart, and every one of you taste (none excepted) the heavie hand of God, who will strengthen your subjects with invincible courage to suppress your misgovernments and Oppressions in Church or Common-wealth Those words are general: a word for my own Look to yourselves; here's country of England. some monstrous death towards you. But to whom? Herein we consider the Signe, Lord wilt thou say. thereof, and the House; The Sun signifies in that
. .
Royal Signe, great ones the House signifies captivity, From which is derived thus much, That some very great man, what King, Prince, Duke,
;
poison, Treachery
or the like, I really affirm

I say,
perfectly
know
not, shall,
some such untimely end." Here is shown a typical example of astrological prophecy, which seems to tell something or nothing, ac-
come
to
cording to the point of view of the reader. According to a believer in astrology, after the execution of Charles
I.,
five years later, this could
and exact prophecy.

Kings, Princes,
etc., ...
be made to seem a direct For example, he says: "You it premonisheth you ... to make
. .
Look to yourselves; here's your peace with God. monstrous death towards you. That some some shall, I say, very great man, what King, Prince, come to such untimely end." But by the doubter the complete prophecy could be shown to be absolutely indefinite, and applicable
. .
.
VOL.
II.
II
149
as
I.,
much
or to
is
to the king of France or Spain as to Charles
in the future, since no definite Furthermore, Lihy distinctly states, "What King, Prince, Duke, or the like, I really affirm which last, at least, was a I perfectly know not" most truthful statement. The same ingenuity that made "Gen. Monk" the "dreadful dead man," could easily make such a prediction apply to the execution of Charles I. Such a definite statement that, on such and such a day a certain number of years in the future, the monarch of England would be beheaded such an exact statement can scarcely be found in any of the works on astrology. It should be borne in mind, also, that Lilly was of the Cromwell party and
any king
time
stated.
opposed to the king. After the death of Charles

the monarch had given
his horoscope.
I.,
Lilly
admitted that
him a thousand pounds to cast "I advised him," says Lilly, "to proceed eastwards he went west, and all the world knows the result." It is an unfortunate thing for the cause of astrology that Lilly failed to mention this until In fact, the sudden after the downfall of the monarch. death, or decline in power, of any monarch, even to-day, brings out the perennial post-mortem predictions of
;
astrologers.
an opponent of the king, made his prophecy of the disaster of the king and his army. At the same time another celebrated astrologer and rival of Lilly, George Wharton, also made some predictions about the outcome of the eventful march from Oxford. Wharton, unlike Lilly, was a follower of the king's party, but that, of course, should have had
so-called
We see how Lilly,
150
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
no influence in his "scientific" reading of the stars. Wharton's predictions are much less verbose than Lilly's, much more explicit, and, incidentally, much more incorrect in this particular instance. " The Moon Lady of the 12," he wrote, "and moving betwixt the 8 degree, 34 min., and 21 degree, 26 min. of Aquarius,
gives us to understand that His Majesty shall receive
much contentment by
certain Messages brought
him
from foreign parts; and that he shall receive some sudden and unexpected supply of ... by the means of some that assimilate the condition of his Enemies And withal this comfort that Plis Majesty shall be exceeding successful in Besieging Towns, Castles, or Forts, and in persuing the enemy. "Mars his Sextile to the Sun, Lord of the Ascendant (which happeneth the 18 day of May) will encourage our Soldiers to advance with much alacrity and cheerfulness of spirit to show themselves gallant in the most And now to sum up all: It is dangerous attempt. most apparent to every impartial and ingenuous judgment; That although His Majesty cannot expect to be secured from every trivial disaster that may befall his army, either by the too much Presumption, Ignorance, or Negligence of some particular Persons (which is frequently incident and unavoidable in the best of Armies) yet the several positions of the Heavens duly considered and compared among themselves, as well in the prefixed Scheme as at the Quarterly Ingresses, do generally render His Majesty and his whole Army unexpectedly victorious and successful in all his de; ;
signs;
Believe
like to
they are
it (London), thy Miseries approach, be many, great, and grievous, and not
151
to be diverted, unless thou seasonably crave
of
God
for being Ntirse to this
Pardon present Rebellion, and
speedily submit to thy Prince's Mercy;
Which
shall
be the daily Prayer of Geo. Wharton." ^ In the light of after events, it is probable that Wharton's stock as an astrologer was not greatly enhanced by this document, at least among members of the Royal family. Lilly's book, on the other hand, became a favorite with the Parliamentary army. After the downfall and death of Napoleon there were unearthed many alleged authentic astrological documents foretelling his ruin. And on the death of George IV., in 1830, there appeared a document (unknown, as usual, until that time) purporting to foretell the death of the monarch to the day, and this without the astrologer knowing that his horoscope was being A full account of this prophecy cast for a monarch. is told, with full belief, by Roback, a nineteenth-century astrologer. He says: " In the year 1828, a stranger of noble mien, advanced in life, but possessing the most bland manners, arrived
at the abode of a celebrated astrologer in London," asking that the learned man foretell his future, " The
astrologer complied with the request of the mysterious
visitor,
drew forth his tables, consulted his ephemeris, and cast the horoscope or celestial map for the hour and the moment of the inquiry, according to the established rules of his art.
"
feeling of
The elements of his calculation were adverse, and a gloom cast a shade of serious thought, if not
are of high rank,' said the astrologer, as he
dejection, over his countenance.
"'You
152
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
calculated and looked on the stranger, 'and of
trious
title.'
illus-
The stranger made a graceful inclination of the head in token of acknowledgment of the complimentary remarks, and the astrologer proceeded
with his mission.
"The
celestial signs
were ominous of calamity to
the stranger, who, probably observing a sudden change in the countenance of the astrologer, eagerly inquired
what
evil or
good fortune had been assigned him by
the celestial orbs. '"To the first part of your inquiry,' said the astrol-
can readily reply. You have been a favorite of fortune her smiles on you have been abundant, her frowns but few; you have had, perhaps now possess, wealth and power; the impossibility of their accomplishment is the only limit to the fulfilment of your
oger,
'
desires.'
"
'"You have spoken

stranger.
'
truly of the past,'
said the
have
full faith in
your revelations of the

in this life
future
it
what say you
of
my pilgrimage
is
short or long?'
"'I
regret,' replied the astrologer, in

'
answer to this
true,
inquiry,
to be the herald of
will
ill,
though
fortune
your sojourn on earth
be
short.'
"'How short?' eagerly inquired the excited and anxious stranger. "'Give me a momentary truce,' said the astrologer;
'
I will
consult the horoscope, and
may
possibly find
some mitigating circumstances.'
"Having
cast his eyes over the celestial
map, and
paused for some moments, he surveyed the countenance of the stranger with great sympathy, and said,
153
I am sorry that I can find no planetary influences that oppose your destiny your death will take place in
'
two
"
years.'
The event
justified the astrologic prediction

i8, 1830,
George
IV. died on
May
exactly two years from the
day on which he had visited the astrologer." * This makes a very pretty story, but it hardly seems like occult insight that an astrologer should have been able to predict an early death of a man nearly seventy years old, or to have guessed that his well-groomed visitor "had, perhaps now possesses, wealth and power." Here again, however, the point of view of
each individual plays the governing part in determining the importance of such a document. To the scientist it proves nothing to the believer in astrology, everything. The significant thing is that it appeared shortly after the death of the monarch.
;
On
his
the Continent astrologers were even more in
Charlemagne, and some of immediate successors, to be sure, attempted to exterminate them, but such rulers as Louis XI. and Catherine de' Medici patronized and encouraged them, and it was many years after the time of Copernicus before their influence was entirely stamped out even in official life. There can be no question that what gave the color of truth to many of the predictions was the fact that so many of the prophecies of sudden deaths and great conflagrations were known to have come true in many instances were made to come true by the astrologer himself. And so it happened
favor than in England.
that
when
the prediction of a great conflagration at a
154
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
certain time culminated in such a conflagration, manytimes a second but less-important burning took place,
which the ambitious astrologer, or his followers, took a central part about a stake, being convicted of incendiarism, which they had committed in order that their prophecies might be fulfilled. But, on the other hand, these predictions were sometimes turned to account by interested friends to warn certain persons of approaching dangers. For example, a certain astrologer foretold the death He not only foretold of Prince Alexander de' Medici. the death, but described so minutely the circumstances that would attend it, and gave such a correct description of the assassin who should murder the prince, that he was at once suspected of having a hand in the assassination. It developed later, however, that such was probably not the case; but that some friend of Prince Alexander, knowing of the plot to take his life, had induced the astrologer to foretell the event in order that the prince might have timely warning and
in
so elude the conspirators.
The cause
of the decline of astrology
prevalence of the
new
spirit of
was the growing experimental science.
Doubtless the most direct blow was dealt by the Copernican theory. So soon as this was established, the recognition of the earth's subordinate place in the universe
must have made it difficult for astronomers to be longer deceived by such coincidences as had sufficed to convince the observers of a more credulous generation. Tycho Brahe was, perhaps, the last astronomer of prominence who was a conscientious practiser of the art of the astrologer.
155
VII

PARACELSUS
the year 1526 there appeared a new lecturer on the platform at the University at Basel a small, beardless, effeminate-looking person who had already
IN
inflamed
all
Christendom with
his peculiar philosophy,
his revolutionary
methods
of treating diseases,
and
his unparalleled success in curing
them.
A man who
was to be remembered in after-time by some as the father of modern chemistry and the founder of modem medicine; by others as madman, charlatan, impostor; and by still others as a combination of all these. This soft -cheeked, effeminate, woman -hating man, whose very sex has been questioned, was Theophrastus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus (1493-1541). To appreciate his work, something must be known He was born near Maria-Einof the life of the man.
siedeln, in Switzerland, the son of a
poor physician
of the place.
He began
the study of medicine under
the instruction of his father, and later on came under the instruction of several learned churchmen. At the
age of sixteen he entered the University of Basel, but, soon becoming disgusted with the philosophical teachings of the time, he quitted the scholarly world of dogmas and theories and went to live among the
156

miners in the Tyrol, in order that he might studynature and men at first hand. Ordinary methods of study were thrown aside, and he devoted his time the only true means of to personal observation gaining useful knowledge, as he preached and practised ever after. Here he became familiar with the art of
mining, learned the physical properties of minerals, ores, and metals, and acquired some knowledge of
mineral waters. More important still, he came in contact with such diseases, wounds, and injuries as miners are subject to, and he tried his hand at the practical treatment of these conditions, untrammelled
by the traditions of a profession in which had been so scant. Having acquired some empirical skill
diseases, Paracelsus set
all
his training
in treating
place
out wandering from place to over Europe, gathering practical information as he went, and learning more and more of the meHis wanderings dicinal virtues of plants and minerals.
covered a period of about ten years, at the end of which time he returned to Basel, where he was soon
invited to give a course of lectures in the university.
These lectures were revolutionary in two respects they were given in German instead of time-honored Latin, and they were based upon personal experience rather than upon the works of such writers as Galen and Avicenna. Indeed, the iconoclastic teacher spoke with open disparagement of these revered masters, and openly upbraided his fellow-practitioners for following their tenets. Naturally such teaching raised a storm of opposition among the older physicians, but for a
time the unparalleled success of Paracelsus in curing
157
more than offset his unpopularity. Gradually, however, his bitter tongue and his coarse personality rendered him so unpopular, even among his patients, that, finally, his liberty and life being jeopardized, he
diseases
from Basel, and became a wanderer. in Colmar, Nuremberg, Appenzell, Zurich, Pfeffers, AugvSburg, and several
was obliged
to flee
He
lived
for
brief periods
other
cities,
until finally at Salzburg his eventful
life
came to a close in 1541. His enemies said that he had died in a tavern from the effects of a protracted
debauch his supporters maintained that he had been murdered at the instigation of rival physicians and
;
apothecaries.
But the effects of his teachings had taken firm root, and continued to spread after his death. He had shown the fallibility of many of the teachings of the hitherto standard methods of treating diseases, and had demonstrated the advantages of independent reasoning based on observation. In his Magicum he
gives his reasons for breaking with tradition.
" I did,"
he says, "embrace at the beginning these doctrines, as my adversaries (followers of Galen) have done, but since I saw that from their procedures nothing resulted but death, murder, stranglings, anchylosed limbs, paralysis, and so forth, that they held most therefore have I quitted this diseases incurable, wretched art, and sought for truth in any other I asked myself if there were no such thing direction. as a teacher in medicine, where could I learn this art best? Nowhere better than the open book of nature, We shall see, written with God's ov/n finger." " Paracelsus taught however, that this book of nature"
.
158

some very strange
these.
lessons.
Modesty was not one of
"Now
at this time," he declares, "I, Theo-
phrastus Paracelsus, Bombast, Monarch of the Arcana, was endowed by God with special gifts for this end, that every searcher after this supreme philosopher's work may be forced to imitate and to follow me, be he Italian, Pole, Gaul, German, or whatsoever or
whosoever he be.
Come
. .
.
hither after me,

spagirists.
all
ye philos-
ophers, astronomers,
and
...
I will
show
^
and open
lars"
to
you
this corporeal regeneration."
Paracelsus based his medical teachings on four "pil-
the physician
philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, and virtue of a strange-enough equipment

surely,
not quite so anomalous as it seems at first blush. Philosophy was the "gate of medicine," whereby the physician entered rightly upon the true course of learning; astronomy, the study of the stars, was all-important because "they (the stars) caused disease by their exhalations, as, for instance, the sun by excessive heat"; alchemy, as he interpreted it, meant the improvement of natural substances for man's benefit; while virtue in the physician was necessary since "only the virtuous are permitted to penetrate into the innermost nature of
yet, properly interpreted,
and
man and the universe."

All his writings aim to promote progress in medicine, and to hold before the physician a grand ideal of his profession. In this his views are wide and far-reach-
based on the relationship which man bears to nature as a whole but in his sweeping condemnations he not only rejected Galenic therapeutics and Galenic
ing,
;
anatomy, but condemned dissections of any kind.

159
door of the three mystic elements salt, sulphur, and mercury. In health he supposed these to be mingled in the body so as to be indistinguishable; a slight separation of them produced disease; and death he supposed to be the result of their complete separation. The spiritual agencies of diseases, he said, had nothing to do with either angels or devils, but were the spirits of human
laid the cause of all diseases at the
He
beings.
contained poisons, and that the function of digestion was to separate the poisonous from the nutritious. In the stomach was an archseus,
or alchemist, whose duty was to
He believed that all food
make
this separation.
do this, and the poisons thus gaining access to the system were "coagulated" and deposited in the joints and various other parts of the body. Thus the deposits in the kidneys and tartar on the teeth were formed and the stony deposits of gout were particularly familiar examIn digestive disorders the archseus failed to
;
ples of this.
All this
is
visionary enough, yet
it
shows
at least a groping after rational explanations of vital
phenomena. Like most others
of his time, Paracelsus believed
a belief that every organ and part of the body had a corresponding
firmly in the doctrine of "signatures"
form
in nature,
it
whose function was to heal
diseases of
the organ
discussion,
resembled.
The
vagaries of this peculiar
doctrine are too numerous and complicated for lengthy
and varied greatly from generation to genhowever, the theory may be eration. summed up in the words of Paracelsus: "As a woman
In general,
is
known by
her shape, so are the medicines." i6o
Hvence

the physicians were constantly searching for some object
of corresponding shape to
an organ
of the
body.
The
most natural application
of this doctrine
would be the
use of the organs of the lower animals for the treatment of the corresponding diseased organs in man.
be treated with the and so on. But this apparently simple form of treatment had endless modifications and restrictions, for not all animals were useful. For example, it was useless to give the stomach of an ox in gastric diseases when the indication in such cases was really for the stomach of a rat. Nor were the organs of animals the only "signatures" Plants also played a very important role, in nature. and the herb-doctors devoted endless labor to searching for such plants. Thus the blood-root, with its red juice, was supposed to be useful in blood diseases, in stopping hemorrhage, or in subduing the redness of an
Thus
diseases of the heart were to
hearts of animals, liver disorders with livers,
inflammation.
Paracelsus's system of signatures, however, was so complicated by his theories of astronomy and alchemy that it is practically beyond comprehension. It is
possible that he himself
it is
may have
understood
it,
improbable that any one else did as shown by the endless discussions that have taken place about it. But with all the vagaries of his theories he was still
rational in his applications,
but
and he attacked to good
purpose the complicated "shot-gun" prescriptions of his contemporaries, advocating more simple methods
of treatment.
The
ever-fascinating subject of electricity, or,
more
specifically,
"magnetism," found great favor with

i6i
to be able to cure
him, and with properly adjusted magnets he claimed many diseases. In epilepsy and lock-
jaw, for example, one had but to fasten magnets to the four extremities of the body, and then, "when the
proper medicines were given," the cure would be efThe easy loop-hole for excusing failure on the fected. ground of improper medicines is obvious, but Paracelsus declares that this one prescription is of more value than " all the humoralists have ever written or taught." Since Paracelsus condemned the study of anatomy as useless, he quite naturally regarded surgery in the same light. In this he would have done far better to have studied some of his predecessors, such as Galen, Paul of .^gina, and Avicenna. But instead of "cutting men to pieces," he taught that surgeons would gain more by devoting their time to searching for the
universal panacea which would cure
gical as well as medical.
all diseases, sur-
In this
we
detect a taint of
the popular belief in the philosopher's stone and the
magic
which have been stoutly denied by some of his followers. He did admit, however, that one operation alone was perhaps permissielixir of life, his belief in
ble
lithotomy, or the "cutting for stone." His influence upon medicine rests undoubtedly upon his revolutionary attitude, rather than on any great or new discoveries made by him. It is claimed by many that he brought prominently into use opium and mercury, and if this were indisputably proven his services to medicine could hardly be overestimated. Unfortunately, however, there are good grounds for doubting
that he was particularly influential in reintroducing

these medicines.
His chief influence

162
may
perhaps be

summed up
ditions.
in a single phrase
he overthrew old
if
tra-
To
Paracelsus 's endeavors, however,

is
not to the
due the credit of setting in motion the chain of thought that developed finally Nor can the ultimate aim into scientific chemistry. of the modem chemist seek a higher object than that
actual products of his work,
of this sixteenth-century alchemist,
who taught
that
"true alchemy has but one aim and object, to extract

the quintessence of things, and to prepare arcana,
tinctures,
and
elixirs
which
may
restore tp
man
the
health and soundness he has lost."
THE GREAT ANATOMISTS

About the beginning
useless,
of the sixteenth century, while
Paracelsus was scoffing at the study of
and using his influence come upon the scene the first of the great anatomists whose work was to make the century conspicuous in that branch of medicine. The young anatomist Charles Etienne (1503-15 64)
already
of the first
first
anatomy as against it, there had
made one
noteworthy discoveries, pointing time that the spinal cord contains a canal, continuous throughout its length. He also
out for the
other minor discoveries of some importance,
made
but his researches were completely overshadowed and obscured by the work of a young Fleming who came upon the scene a few years later, and who shone with such brilliancy in the medical world that he obscured completely the work of his contemporary until many
years later.
This young physician,

163
to lead such an eventful career
who was destined and meet such an
untimely end as a martyr to science, was Andrew
Vesalius (15 14-15 64), who is called the "greatest of anatomists." At the time he came into the field
medicine was struggling against the dominating Galenic teachings and the theories of Paracelsus, but perhaps most of all against the superstitions of the time. In France human dissections were attended with such dangers that the young Vesalius transferred his field
such investigations were covertly permitted, if not openly countenanced. From the very start the young Fleming looked askance at the accepted teachings of the day, and began a series of independent investigations based
of
labors to Italy, where
upon
which
his
own
observations.
The
results
of
these
investigations he gave in a treatise on the subject
systematic work on
comprehensive and This remarkable work was published in the author's twentyeighth or twenty-ninth year. Soon after this Vesalius
is
regarded as the
first
human anatomy.
was invited
as imperial physician to the court of
Em-
continued to act in the same II., after the abdication But in spite of this royal favor there of his patron. was at work a factor more powerful than the influence of the monarch himself an instrument that did so
peror Charles V.
capacity at the court of Philip
He
much many
by which so were brought to a premature close. Vesalius had received permission from the kinsmen While of a certain grandee to perform an autopsy. making his observations the heart of the outraged
to retard scientific progress, and
lives
body was
reported.
seen to palpitate
so
at
least
it
was
the
This
was brought immediately

164
to

attention of the Inquisition, and it was only by the intervention of the king himself that the anatomist
escaped the usual fate of those accused by that As it was, he was obliged to perform a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. While returning from this he was shipwrecked, and perished from hunger and exposure on the island of Zante. At the very time when the anatomical writings of Vesalius were startling the medical world, there was living and working contemporaneously another great anatomist, Eustachius (died 1574), whose records of his anatomical investigations were ready for publication only nine years after the publication of the work of Vesalius. Owing to the unfortunate circumstances of the anatomist, however, they were never published during his lifetime not, in fact, until 17 14. When at last they were given to the world as Anatomical Engravings, they showed conclusively that Eustachius was equal, if not superior to Vesalius in his knowledge of anatomy. It has been said of this remarkable collection of engravings that if they had been published when they were made in the sixteenth century, anatomy would have been advanced by at least two
tribunal.
centuries.
But be
this as it
may, they certainly show
that their author was a most careful dissector and

observer.
Eustachius described accurately for the first time certain structures of the middle ear, and rediscovered the tube leading from the ear to the throat that bears
his name. He also made careful studies of the teeth and the phenomena of first and second dentition. He was not baffled by the minuteness of structures and
VOL.
II.
12
l6tj
where he was unable to study them with the naked eye he used glasses for the purpose, and resorted to macerations and injections for the study of certain complicated structures. But while the fruit of his pen and pencil were lost for more than a century after his death, the effects of his teachings were not and his two pupils, Fallopius and Columbus, are almost as well known to-day as their illustrious teacher. Columbus (1490 -1559) did much in correcting the mistakes
;
anatomy of the bones as described by also added much to the science by giving correct accounts of the shape and cavities of the heart, and made many other discoveries of minor importance. Fallopius (15 23-1 5 62) added considerain the
made
Vesalius.
He
bly to the general knowledge of anatomy,

eral discoveries in the
made
and
sevalso
anatomy
of the ear,
several organs in the abdominal cavity.
At this time a most vitally important controversy was in progress as to whether or not the veins of the
many anatomists Etienne had first described these structures, and Vesalius had confirmed his observations. It would seem as if there could be no difficulty in settling the question as to the fact of such valves being present in the vessels, for the demonstration is so simple that it is now made daily by medical students in all physiological laboratories and dissecting-rooms. But many of the great anatomists of the sixteenth century were unable to make this demonstration, even when it had been brought to their attention by such an authority as Vesalius. Fallopius, writing to Vesalius on the subject in 1562, 166
bodies were supplied with valves,
being unable to find them.

declared that he was unable to find such valves.
Others, however, such as Eustachius and Fabricius (153 7-1 6 1 9), were more successful, and found and
described these structures.
by
these valves was entirely misinterpreted.
they act in
But the purpose served That preventing the backward flow of the blood
on
its
in the veins
way
to the heart, just as the valves
has been Harvey; but the best interpretation that could be given at that time, even by such a man as Fabricius, was that they acted in retarding the flow of the blood as it comes from the heart, and thus prevent its too rapid distribution throughout the body. The fact that the blood might have been going towards the heart, instead of coming from it, seems never to have been considered seriously until demonstrated so conclusively by Harvey. Of this important and remarkable controversy over the valves in veins, Withington has this to say: "This is truly a marvellous story. A great Galenic anatomist is first to give a full and correct description of the valves and their function, but fails to see that any modification of the old view as to the motion of the
of the heart itself prevent regurgitation,
known
since the time of
blood
is
required.
Two
able dissectors carefully test
by experiment, and come to a result the exact reverse of the truth. Urged by them, the two foremost anatomists of the age make a special search
their action for valves
and
fail
to find them.
Finally, passing over
an aged and honorable professor, who has lived through all this, calmly asserts that no anatomist, ancient or modern, has ever mentioned
lesser peculiarities,
valves in veins
till
he discovered them in 1574!"^

167
Among
if
the anatomists
who probably
discovered
was Michael Servetus (1511-1553); but somewhat in doubt, it is certain that he discovered and described the pulmonary circulation, and had a very clear idea of the process of respiration as carried on in the lungs. The description was contained in a famous document sent to Calvin in 1545 document which the reformer carefully kept for seven years in order that he might make use of some of the
these valves
this is
heretical statements
it
contained to accomplish his
desire of bringing its writer to the stake.
fate of Servetus, the interesting character of the
The awful man,
and the
fact that he
of
discoveries
came so near to anticipating the Harvey make him one of the most
interesting figures in medical history.
rejected the doctrine of natural, vital,
In this document which was sent to Calvin, Servetus and animal spirits, as contained in the veins, arteries, and nerves respectively, and made the all-important statement that the fluids contained in veins and arteries are the same. He showed also that the blood is "purged from
declared that there
fumê" and purified
out of vein
there
is little
by respiration in the lungs, and a new vessel in the lungs, "formed and artery." Even at the present day
is
to
add
to or change in this description of
Servetus' s.
keeping this document, pregnant with advanced from the world, and in the end only using it as a means of destroying its author, the great reformer showed the same jealousy in retarding scientific progress as had his arch-enemies of
scientific views,
By
the Inquisition,
at
whose dictates Vesalius became

168

a martyr to science, and in whose dungeons Etienne
perished.
THE COMING OP HARVEY The time was

ripe for the culminating discovery of
;
the circulation of the blood but as yet no one had determined the all-important fact that there are two currents of blood in the body, one going to the heart,
in the veins would venous current did the that seem to show conclusively not come from the heart, and surgeons must have ob-
one coming from
it.
The valves
served thousands of times the every-day phenomenon

of congested veins at the distal extremity of a limb
around which a ligature or constriction of any kind had been placed, and the simultaneous depletion of the vessels at the proximal points above the ligature. But it should be remembered that inductive science
This was the sixteenth, not the nineteenth century, and few men had learned to put implicit confidence in their observations and convicThe time tions when opposed to existing doctrines.
was
in its infancy.
was at hand, however, when such a man was

his appearance, and, as in the case of so
to
make
tionary doctrines in science, this
many revoluman was an English-
remained for William Harvey (15 7 8-165 7) had puzzled the medical world since the beginning of history; not only to solve it, but to prove his case so conclusively and so simply that for all time his little booklet must be handed down as one of the great masterpieces of lucid and almost faultless demonstration. Harvey, the son of a prosperous Kentish yeoman,
man.
It
to solve the great mystery which
169
was born at Folkestone.
His education was begun at
the grammar-school of Canterbury, and later he be-
came a pensioner
of 'Caius College, Cambridge.
Soon
after taking his degree of B.A., at the age of nineteen,
he decided upon the profession of medicine, and went Padua as a pupil of Fabricius and Casserius. Returning to England at the age of twenty -four, he soon after (1609) obtained the reversion of the post of physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, his applito
cation being supported

this
his patients
by James
I.
himself.
time he was a popular physician, such men as Francis Bacon. In 161 8 he was appointed physician extraordinary to the king, and, a little later, physician in ordinary. He was in attendance upon Charles I. at the battle of Edgehill, in 1642, where, with the young Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, after seeking shelter under a hedge, he drew a book out of his pocket and, forgetful of the battle, became absorbed in study, until finally the cannon-balls from the enemy's artillery made him seek
a more sheltered position. On the fall of Charles I. he retired from practice, and He was then well lived in retirement with his brother.
along in years, but still pursued his scientific researches with the same vigor as before, directing his attention chiefiy to the study of embryology. On June 3, 1657, he was attacked by paralysis and died, in his eightieth year. He had lived to see his theory of the circulation accepted, several years before, by all the eminent anatomists of the civilized world. A keenness in the observation of facts, characteristic of the mind of the man, had led Harvey to doubt the
170
Even at counting among
WILLIAM HARVEY

truth of existing doctrines as to the
circulation.
filled, like
phenomena
of the
Galen had taught that "the arteries are

bellows, because they are expanded," but
Harvey thought that the action of spurting blood from a severed vessel disproved this. For the spurting was remittant, "now with greater, now with less impetus," and its greater force always corresponded to the expansion (diastole) not the contraction (systole) of the Furthermore, it was evident that contraction vessel.
,
of the heart
and the
arteries
was not simultaneous,
as was commonly taught, because in that case there would be no marked propulsion of the blood in any direction and there was no gainsaying the fact that the blood was forcibly propelled in a definite direction, and that direction away from the heart. Harvey's investigations led him to doubt also the accepted theory that there was a porosity in the septum of tissue that divides the two ventricles of the heart. It seemed unreasonable to suppose that a thick fluid
;
like the
blood could find
its
that they could not be demonstrated
way through pores so small by any means
devised by man. In evidence that there could be no such openings he pointed out that, since the two ventricles
contract at the same time, this process would

facilitate
impede rather than

passage of blood.
sive proof of all
such an intra-ventricular
But what seemed the most concluwas the fact that in the foetus there
this is closed in the fully
if
existed a demonstrable opening between the two ventricles,
and yet
developed
heart.
Why
should Nature,
she intended that blood
this
should pass between the two cavities, choose to close opening and substitute microscopic openings in
171
place of it?
It
would surely seem more reasonable

of the foetus,
to have the small perforations in the thin, easily per-
meable membrane
and the opening
in the
adult heart, rather than the reverse.
From
all this
Harvey drew
nestly,
his correct conclusions,
declaring ear-
"By
Hercules, there are no such porosities,
and
they cannot be demonstrated." Having convinced himself that no intra-ventricular opening existed, he proceeded to study the action of the heart itself, untrammelled by too much faith in established theories, and, as yet, with no theory of his own. He soon discovered that the commonly accepted theory of the heart striking against the chestwall during the period of relaxation was entirely wrong,
and that
its
action
was exactly the reverse
of this, the
heart striking the chest-wall during contraction.

heart's action, he took
arteries,
Hav-
ing thus disproved the accepted theory concerning the
up the subject
of the action of
and soon was
able to demonstrate
section that the contraction of the arteries
by viviwas not
simultaneous with contractions of the heart. His experiments demonstrated that these vessels were simnothing else ply elastic tubes whose pulsations were The than the impulse of the blood within them."
'
'
reason that the arterial pulsation was not simultaneous
with the heart-beat he found to be because of the time required to carry the impulse along the tube. By a series of further careful examinations and experiments, which are too extended to be given here, he was soon able further to demonstrate the action and course of the blood during the contractions of the heart. His explanations were practically the same as
172

those given to-day
first the contraction of the auricle, sending blood into the ventricle then ventricular contraction, making the pulse, and sending the blood into
;
the arteries. He had thus demonstrated what had not been generally accepted before, that the heart was an To make such a organ for the propulsion of blood. imlike statement to-day seems not the sober announcement that the earth is round or that the sun does not revolve about it. Before Harvey's time, however, it was considered as an organ that was "in some mysterious way the source of vitality and warmth, as an animated crucible for the concoction of blood and the
generation of vital spirits."
^
In watching the rapid and ceaseless contractions of the heart, Harvey was impressed with the fact that, even if a very small amount of blood was sent out at each pulsation, an enormous quantity must pass
through the organ in a day, or even
in
an hour.
Es-
timating the size of the cavities of the heart, and
noting that at least a drachm must be sent out with each pulsation, it was evident that the two thousand beats given by a very slow human heart in an hour
must send out some forty pounds of blood more than twice the amount in the entire body. The question was, what became of it all? For it should be remembered that the return of the blood by the veins was unknown, and nothing like a "circulation" more than vaguely conceived even by Harvey himself. Once it could be shown that the veins were constantly
returning blood to the heart, the discovery that the
blood in some way passes from the arteries to the veins was only a short step. Harvey, by resorting to
173
soon demonbeyond question the fact that the veins do carry the return blood. " But this, in particular, can be shown clearer than daylight," says Harvey. "The vena cava enters the heart at an inferior portion, while
vivisections of lower animals
reptiles,
and
strated
the artery passes out above. Now if the vena cava be taken up with forceps or the thumb and finger, and the course of the blood intercepted for some distance below the heart, you will at once see it almost emptied between the fingers and the heart, the blood being exhausted by the heart's pulsation, the heart at the same time becoming much paler even in its dilatation, smaller in size, owing to the deficiency of blood, and at length languid in pulsation, as if about On the other hand, when you release the vein to die. the heart immediately regains its color and dimensions. After that, if you leave the vein free and tie and compress the arteries at some distance from the heart, you will see, on the contrary, their included portion grow excessively turgid, the heart becoming so beyond measure, assuming a dark-red color, even to lividity, and at length so overloaded with blood as to seem in danger of suffocation; but when the obstruction is removed it returns to its normal condition, in size, color, and movement."^
This conclusive demonstration that the veins return the blood to the heart must have been most impressive to Harvey, who had been taught to believe that the blood current in the veins pursued an opposite course,
all
and must have tended to shake
his faith in
existing doctrines of the day.
His next step was the natural one of demonstrating

174

that the blood passes from the arteries to the veins. He demonstrated conclusively that this did occur, but
modem
and one one was a mistake. For Galen had taught, and had attempted to demonstrate, that there are sets of minute vessels connecting the arteries and the veins; and Servetus had shown that there must be such vessels, at least in the lungs. However, the little flaw in the otherwise complete demonstration of Harvey detracts nothing from the
for once his rejection of the ancient writers for others
main issue at stake. It was to show just how these small
who
followed
vessels acted in effecting
the transfer of the blood from artery to vein, and the grand general statement that such a transfer does take
important one, and the Harvey's experiments to demonstrate that the blood passes from the arteries to the veins are so simply and concisely stated that they may best be given in his own
place was, after
all,
the
all -
exact method of
how it
takes place a detail.
words.
have here to cite certain experiments," he wrote, "from which it seems obvious that the blood enters a limb by the arteries, and returns from it by the veins that the arteries are the vessels carrying the blood from the heart, and the veins the returning channels of the blood to the heart that in the limbs and extreme
;
" I
parts of the body the blood passes either
by anastomosis immediately by the pores of the flesh, or in both ways, as has already been said in speaking of the passage of the blood through the lungs; whence it appears manifest that in the circuit the blood moves from thence hither, and hence
from the
arteries into the veins, or
from the centre to the extremities, to wit, and from the extreme parts back again to the centre. Finally, upon grounds of circulation, with the same elements as before, it will be obvious that the quantity can neither be accounted for by the ingesta, nor yet be
thither;
held necessary to nutrition.

"
Now
let
of a
man,
either using such a
any one make an experiment on the arm fillet as is employed in

it
blood-letting or grasping the limb tightly with his
hand, the best subject for
being one
who
is
lean,
and who has

exercise,
large veins,
is
when the body

is
and the best time after warm, the pulse is full, and
the blood carried in large quantities to the extremities,

for all then
more conspicuous; under such circumtightly as can be borne

:
stances let a ligature be thrown about the extremity
and drawn as
wrist nor
it will first
be
the
perceived that beyond
the ligature neither in
anywhere else do the arteries pulsate, that at the same time immediately above the ligature the
artery begins to rise higher at each diastole, to throb
more
violently,
and to
its
it
swell in its vicinity with a
kind of
tide, as if it strove to
break through and overfull.
come the
obstacle to
if
current; the artery here, in
short, appears as
were permanently
The
hand under and appearances; in the course of time it begins to fall somewhat in temperature, indeed, but nothing is drawn into it. "After the bandage has been kept on some short
such circumstances retains its natural color
time in this way, let it be slackened a little, brought to the state or term of middling tightness which is used in bleeding, and it will be seen that the whole hand and
176

arm will
by
this
instantly
become deeply suffused and distend-
gorged with blood, drawn, as it is said, middling ligature, without pain, or heat, or any horror of a vacuum, or any other cause yet ined, injected,
dicated.
"As we have
ligature,
noted, in connection with the tight
that the artery above the bandage was distended and pulsated, not below it, so, in the case of the moderately tight bandage, on the contrary, do
we
find that the veins below, never above, the
fillet
swell
and become dilated, while the arteries shrink; and such is the degree of distention of the veins here
that it is only very strong pressure that will force the blood beyond the fillet and cause any of the veins in the upper part of the arm to rise. " From these facts it is easy for any careful observer to learn that the blood enters an extremity by the arteries; for when they are effectively compressed nothing is drawn to the member; the hand preserves its color nothing flows into it, neither is it distended but when the pressure is diminished, as it is with the bleeding fillet, it is manifest that the blood is instantly thrown in with force, for then the hand begins to swell which is as much as to say that when the arteries pulsate the blood is flowing through them, as it is when the moderately tight ligature is applied; but when they do not pulsate, or when a tight ligature is used, they cease from transmitting anything; they are only distended above the part where the ligature is applied. The veins again being compressed, nothing can flow through them the certain indication of which is that below the ligature they are much more tumid
;
177
than above it, and than they usually appear when there is no bandage upon the arm. "It therefore plainly appears that the ligature prevents the return of the blood through the veins to the parts above it, and maintains those beneath it in a But the arteries, in state of permanent distention. spite of the pressure, and under the force and impulse of the heart, send on the blood from the internal parts ^ of the body to the parts beyond the bandage."
This use of ligatures is very significant, because, as shown, a very tight ligature stops circulation in both arteries and veins, while a loose one, while checking the circulation in the veins, which lie nearer the surface and are not so directly influenced by the force of the heart, does not stop the passage of blood in the arteries, which are usually deeply imbedded in the tissues, and
not so easily influenced by pressure from without. The last step of Harvey's demonstration was to prove that the blood does flow along the veins to the heart, aided by the valves that had been the cause
and dispute between the great Harvey not only desixteenth-century anatomists. monstrated the presence of these valves, but showed conclusively, by simple experiments, what their funcof so
much
discussion
tion was, thus completing his demonstration of the
phenomena of the circulation. The final ocular demonstration
of the passage of the blood from the arteries to the veins was not to be made until four years after Harvey's death. This process, which can be observed easily in the web of a frog's foot by the aid of a low-power lens, was first
178

demonstrated by Marcello Malpighi (162 8-1694) in 1 661. By the aid of a lens he first saw the small
in a piece of dried lung.
"capillary" vessels connecting the veins and arteries Taking his cue from this, he
turtle,
examined the lung of a
and was able to
see in
it
the passage of the corpuscles through these minute vessels, making their way along these previously un-
known channels from

their journey
the arteries into the veins on
Harvey,
all
back to the heart. Thus the work of but complete, was made absolutely entire
by the
tion.
great Italian.
And
all this in
a single genera-
LEEUWENHOEK DISCOVERS BACTERIA

The seventeenth century was not
to close, however,
without another discovery in science,

later,
which,
when
applied to the causation of disease almost two centuries revolutionized therapeutics more completely
than any one discovery. This was the discovery of microbes, by Antonius von Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), in 1683. ^Von Leeuwenhoek discovered that "in the white matter between his teeth" there were millions more, in fact, than "there of microscopic "animals" were human beings in the united Netherlands," and all "moving in the most delightful manner." There can be no question that he saw them, for we can recognize in his descriptions of these various forms of little "animals" the four principal forms of microbes the long and short rods of bacilli and bacteria, the spheres of micrococci, and the corkscrew spirillum. The presence of these microbes in his mouth greatly annoyed Antonius, and he tried various methods of
179
getting rid of them, such as using vinegar and hot
coffee.
In doing this he Httle suspected that he was anticipating modem antiseptic surgery by a century and three-quarters, and to be attempting what anti-
For the septic surgery is now able to accompHsh, fundamental principle of antisepsis is the use of
medicines for ridding wounds of similar microscopic organisms. Von Leeuwenhoek was only temporarily successful in his attempts, however, and took occasion to communicate his discovery to the Royal Society of
England, hoping that they would be "interested in Probably they were, but not sufthis novelty." ficiently so for any member to pursue any protracted investigations or reach any satisfactory conclusions, and the whole matter was practically forgotten until the middle of the nineteenth century.
VIII
MEDICINE IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH
CENTURIES
the sixteenth century, Ambroise Pare (151 7-1590), called the father of French surgery, is perhaps the most widely known. He rose from the position of a
OF
the half-dozen surgeons
who were prominent
in
common
barber to that of surgeon to three French monarchs, Henry II., Francis II., and Charles IX. Some of his mottoes are still first principles of the medical man. Among others are: "He who becomes a surgeon for the sake of money, and not for the sake of knowledge, will accomplish nothing" and "A tried remedy is better than a newly invented." On his
;
statue
is
his
the wounded,
dressed him,
It
field
modest estimate of his work in caring "Je le pansay, Dieu le guarit"
for
God cured him.

woimds on the battlediscovered how useless and
was
in this dressing of
that he accidentally harmful was the terribly painful treatment of applying boiling oil to gunshot wounds as advocated by John It happened that after a certain battle, of Vigo. where there was an unusually large number of casualties, Pare found, to his horror, that no more boiling oil was available for the surgeons, and that he should
be obliged to dress the wounded by other simpler methods. To his amazement the results proved enVOL. II. 13
181
tirely satisfactory,
and from that day he discarded the

his
hot-oil treatment.
As Pare did not understand Latin he wrote

treatises in French,
thus inaugurating a custom in France that was begun by Paracelsus in Germany half a century before. He reintroduced the use of the
in
ligature
controlling
hemorrhage, introduced the
"figure of eight" suture in the operation for hare-lip,
improved many of the medico-legal doctrines, and advanced the practice of surgery generally. He is credited with having successfully performed the operation for strangulated hernia, but he probably borrowed it from Peter Franco (1505-1570), who published an account of this operation in 1556. As this operation is considered by some the most important
operation in surgery,
its
discoverer
is
entitled to
more
than passing notice, although he was despised and ignored by the surgeons of his time. Franco was an illiterate travelling lithotomist class of itinerant physicians who were very generally frowned down by the regular practitioners of medicine. But Franco possessed such skill as an operator, and appears to have been so earnest in the pursuit of what he considered a legitimate calling, that he finally overcame the popular prejudice and became one of the
salaried surgeons of the republic of Bern.

first
He was
the
surgeon to perform the suprapubic lithotomy operation the removal of stone through the abdomen instead of through the perineum. His works, while
written in an illiterate style, give the clearest descriptions of
any
of the early
modem
rests
writers.
his operation for
As the fame
of
Franco
upon
182
; ;
MEDICINE
human life, so the fame of his Italian contemporary, Gaspar Tagliacozzi (1545-1599), rests upon his operation for increasing human comfort and happiness by restoring amputated noses. At the time in which he lived amputation of the nose was
prolonging
very common, partly from disease, but also because a certain pope had fixed the amputation of that member as the penalty for larceny. Tagliacozzi probably borrowed his operation from the East but he was the first Western surgeon to perform it and describe it.
;
flocked to
So great was the fame of his operations that patients him from all over Europe, and each "went away with as many noses as he liked." Naturally, the
directed his efforts to restoring structures
man who
by order of the Church was regarded in the light of a heretic by many theologians and though he succeeded in cheating the stake or dungeon, and died a natural death, his body was finally cast out of the church in which it had been
buried.
that had been removed
In the sixteenth century Germany produced a surgeon, Fabricius Hildanes (1560-1639), whose work compares favorably with that of Pare, and whose name would undoubtedly have been much better known had not the circumstances of the time in which he lived tended to obscure his merits. The blind followers of Paracelsus could see nothing outside the pale of their master's teachings, and the disastrous Thirty Years' War tended to obscure and retard all scientific advances in Germany. Unlike many of his fellowsurgeons, Hildanes was well versed in Latin and Greek and, contrary to the teachings of Paracelsus, he laid
183
particular stress
upon the
necessity of the surgeon
having a thorough knowledge of anatomy. He had a helpmate in his wife, who was also something of a surgeon, and she is credited with having first made use of the magnet in removing particles of metal from the Hildanes tells of a certain man who had been eye. injured by a small piece of steel in the cornea, which resisted all his efforts to remove it. After observing Hildanes' fruitless efforts for a time, it suddenly occurred to his wife to attempt to make the extraction with a piece of loadstone. While the physician held open the two lids, his wife attempted to withdraw the steel with the magnet held close to the
cornea, and after several efforts she was successful which Hildanes enumerates as one of the advantages of being a married man. Hildanes was particularly happy in his inventions of surgical instruments, many of which were designed for locating and removing the various missiles recently
introduced in warfare.
The seventeenth century, which was such a flourishing one for anatomy and physiology, was not as productive of great surgeons or advances in surgery as the sixteenth had been or the eighteenth was to be. There was a gradual improvement all along the line,
however, and much of the work begun by such surgeons as Pare and Hildanes was perfected or improved. Perhaps the most progressive surgeon of the century was an Englishman, Richard Wiseman (16251686), who, like Harvey, enjoyed royal favor, being in
the service of
all
the Stuart kings.
He was
the
first
184
MEDICINE
surgeon to advocate primary amputation, in gunshot wounds, of the hmbs, and also to introduce the treatment of aneurisms by compression but he is generally rated as a conservative operator, who favored medication rather than radical operations, where possible. In Italy, Marcus Aurelius Severinus (i 580-1656) and Peter Marchettis (i 589-1675) were the leading surgeons of their nation. Like many of his predecessors in Europe, Severinus ran amuck with the Holy Inquisition and fled from Naples. But the waning of the powerful arm of the Church is shown by the fact that he was brought back by the unanimous voice of the grateful citizens, and lived in safety despite the frowns
;
of the theologians.
The sixteenth century cannot be
said to
have added
much
of importance in the field of practical medicine,
and, as in the preceding and succeeding centuries,

at best only struggling along in the
was
wake
of
anatomy,
physiology, and surgery.
In the seventeenth century,
made
however, at least one discovery in therapeutics was that has been an inestimable boon to humanity ever since. This was the introduction of cinchona bark (from which quinine is obtained) in 1640. But
century was productive of many medical systems, and could boast of many great names among the medical profession, and, on the whole, made considerably more progress than the preceding century. Of the founders of medical systems, one of the most widely known is Jan Baptista van Helmont (15781644), an eccentric genius who constructed a system of medicine of his own and for a time exerted considerthis
185
able influence.
But
in the
end
his
system was desonly a
tined to pass out of existence, not very long after the
death of
its
author.
Van Helmont was not

up the study
physician, but
was master
of all the other branches of

of medicine
learning of the time, taking
and chemistry as an after-thought, but devoting himself to them with the greatest enthusiasm once he had begun his investigations. His attitude towards existing doctrines was as revolutionary as that of Paracelsus, and he rejected the teachings of Galen and all the ancient writers, although retaining some of the views
of Paracelsus.
He modified the archcBus of Paracelsus, and added many complications to it. He believed
by an
archcBus influus,
the whole body to be controlled
the soul by the archcsi insiti, and these in turn controlled by the central archeus. His system is too elaborate
and complicated
for full explanation,
but
its chief ser-
vice to medicine was in introducing new chemical methods in the preparation of drugs. In this way he was indirectly connected with the establishment of the latrochemical school. It was he who first used the word "gas" a word coined by him, along with
many
The
others that soon
fell
into disuse.
were the pathology use of chemical medicines, and a theory of

principles of the latrochemical school
different
The founder
from the prevailing "humoral" pathology. of this school was Sylvius (Franz de le Boe, 1614-1672), professor of medicine at Leyden. He attempted to establish a permanent system of medicine based on the newly discovered theory of the circulation and the new chemistry, but his name is remem.bered
by medical men because
of the fissure in the brain
186
MEDICINE
(fissure of Sylvius)
that bears
it.
He
laid great stress
on the cause of fevers and other diseases as originating

in the disturbances of the process of fermentation in
the stomach.
The
doctrines of Sylvius spread widely
over the continent, but were not generally accepted in England until modified by Thomas Willis (1622-1675), whose name, like that of Sylvius, is perpetuated by
a structure in the brain

of Willis.
named
after him, the circle
Willis's descriptions of certain
nervous
dis-
and an account of diabetes, are the first recorded, and added materially to scientific medicine. These schools of medicine lasted until the end of the seveneases,
teenth century,
when they were
finally
overthrown by
Sydenham. The latrophysical school

on theories
of physiology,
(also
called iatromathe-
matical, iatromechanical, or physiatric)
was founded
Naples
probably by
if
Borelli, of
(1608-1679), although Sanctorius Sanctorius, a professor at Padua,
was a
it.
precursor,
not directly interested
in establishing
Sanctorius discovered the fact that
body
all
an "insensible perspiration" is being given off by the continually, and was amazed to find that loss of
weight in this
this discovery
way
far exceeded the loss of weight
by
other excretions of the
body combined.
He made
by means of a peculiar weighing-machine which a chair was attached, and in which he spent most of his time. Very naturally he overestimated the importance of this discovery, but it was, neverto
value in pointing out the hygienic importance of the care of the skin. He also introduced a thermometer which he advocated as valuable in cases of fever, but the instrument was probtheless, of great
187
ably not his
own
invention, but borrowed from his
friend Galileo.
Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood laid the foundation of the latrophysical school by showing that this vital process was comparable to a hydraulic system. In his On the Motive of Animals, Borelli first attempted to account for the phenomena The iatroof life and diseases on these principles. mechanics held that the great cause of disease is due
to different states of elasticity of the solids of the
body
interfering with the movements of the fluids, which are themselves subject to changes in density, one or both of these conditions continuing to cause stagnation or congestion. The school thus founded by Borelli was the outcome of the unbounded enthusiasm, with its accompanying exaggeration of certain phenomena with the corresponding belittling of others
that naturally follows such a revolutionary discovery Having such a founder as the as that of Harvey.
brilliant Italian Borelli, it
was given a sufficient imsome distance before Some of the exaggerated matheit finally collapsed. matical calculations of Borelli himself are worth noting. Each heart-beat, as he calculated it, overcomes a resistance equal to one hundred and eighty thousand pounds; the modern physiologist estimates its force at from five to nine ounces!
petus
by
his writings to carry it
THOMAS SYDENHAM
illusive
But while the Continent was struggling with these "systems," and dabbling in mystic theories
that were to scarcely outlive the i88
men who
conceived
MEDICINE
them, there appeared in England the "land of common-sense," as a German scientist has called it "a cool, clear, and unprejudiced spirit," who in the golden age of systems declined "to be like the man who
builds the chambers of the upper story of his house
before he had laid securely the foundation walls."
This man was Thomas Sydenham (i 624-1689), who, while the great Harvey was serving the king as surgeon, was fighting as a captain in the parliamentary
army.
Sydenham took
scientific
for his guide the teachings of
Hippocrates, modified to suit the advances that had
been made in
tion
knowledge since the days of the
great Greek, and established, as a standard, observa-
and experience. He cared little for theory unless confirmed by practice, but took the Hippocratic view that nature cured diseases, assisted by the physician. He gave due credit, however, to the importance of the
part played
by the
assistant.
As he saw
(i)
it,
could be advanced in three ways:

tablishing a fixed principle or
"By
medicine accurate
descriptions or natural histories of diseases; (2)
by
es-
method of treatment, founded upon experience; (3) by searching for specific remedies, which he believes must exist in considerable
numbers, though he admits that the only one yet discovered is Peruvian bark." ^ As it happened, another equally specific remedy, mercury, when used in certain diseases, was already known to him, but he evidently did not recognize it as such. The influence on future medicine of Sydenham's teachings was most pronounced, due mostly to his
teaching of careful observation.
To most
physicians,
however, he
is
now remembered
189
chiefly for his intro-
duction of the use of laudanum,
still
considered one of
the most valuable remedies of modern pharmacopoeias.
The German
will
gives the honor of introducing this prep-
aration to Paracelsus, but the English-speaking world
always believe that the credit should be given to
Sydenham.
IX
PHILOSOPHER-SCIENTISTS AND NEW INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING

saw that in the old Greek days there was no sharp Hne of demarcation between the field In the of the philosopher and that of the scientist. Hellenistic epoch, however, knowledge became more specialized, and our recent chapters have shown us scientific investigators whose efforts were far enough removed from the intangibilities of the philosopher. It must not be overlooked, however, that even in the present epoch there were men whose intellectual efforts were primarily directed towards the subtleties of philosophy, yet who had also a penchant for strictly
scientific imaginings, if
tific
WE
not indeed for practical scienleast three of these
experiments.
At
men were
of sufficient importance in the history of the develop-
ment
of science to demand more than passing notice. These three are the Englishman Francis Bacon (1561-
1626), the Frenchman Rene Descartes (1596 -1650); and the German Gottfried Leibnitz (1646-1716). Bacon, as the earliest path-breaker, showed the way, theoretically at least, in which the sciences should be studied; Descartes, pursuing the methods pointed out by Bacon, carried the same line of abstract reason into practice as well while Leibnitz, coming some years later, and having the advantage of the wisdom of his
;
191
two great predecessors, was naturally influenced by both in his views of abstract scientific principles. Bacon's career as a statesman and his faults and misfortunes as a man do not concern us here. Our interest in him begins with his entrance into Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took up the study of
During the sciences taught there at that time. the three years he became more and more convinced that science was not being studied in a profitable
all
manner, until at last, at the end of his college course, he made ready to renounce the old Aristotelian methods of study and advance his theory of inductive study. For although he was a great admirer of Aristotle's work, he became convinced that his methods of approaching study were entirely wrong.
"The opinion
of
Aristotle,"
he says, in his
De
Argumentiim Scientiarum, "seemeth to me a negligent opinion, that of those things which exist by nature nothing can be changed by custom using for example, that if a stone be thrown ten thousand times up it will not learn to ascend and that by often seeing or hearing we do not learn to see or hear better. For though this principle be true in things wherein nature is peremptory (the reason whereof we cannot now stand to discuss), yet it is otherwise in things wherein nature admitteth a latitude. For he might see that a straight glove will come more easily on with use; and that a wand will by use bend otherwise than it grew; and that by use of the voice we speak louder and stronger and that by use of enduring heat or cold we endure it the better, and the like which latter sort have a nearer resemblance unto that subject of man; ;
192
ROGER BACON
FRANCIS BACON
PHILOSOPHER-SCIENTISTS
ners he handleth than those instances which he allegeth."^
formed while a young intervals through his maturer years, and reiterated and emphasized in his old age. Masses of facts were to be obtained by observing nature at first hand, and from such accumulations of facts deductions were to be made. In short, reasoning was to be from the specific to the general, and not vice versa. It was by his teachings alone that Bacon thus conThese were
his
opinions,
man
in college, repeated
at
tributed to the foundation of modern science; and, while he was constantly thinking and writing on scientific
subjects, he contributed little in the

" I only
way
of actual
discoveries.
I enter
sound the clarion," he

is
said,
"but
not the battle."

case of Descartes, however,
different.
The
He
both sounded the clarion and entered into the fight. He himself freely acknowledges his debt to Bacon for his teachings of inductive methods of study, but modern criticism places his work on the same plane "If you lay hold as that of the great Englishman. of any characteristic product of modern ways of thinking," says Huxley, "either in the region of philosophy
or in that of science,
if
you
^
find the spirit of that thought,
not
its
form, has been present in the
mind
of the
great Frenchman."
Descartes, the son of a noble family of France, was educated by Jesuit teachers. Like Bacon, he very early conceived the idea that the methods of teaching and studying science were wrong, but he pondered the matter well into middle life before putting into writing
193
"
his
ideas of philosophy
and
science.
Then, in his
Discourse Touching the Method of Using One's Reason Rightly and of Seeking Scientific Truth, he pointed out the way of seeking after truth. His central idea in
this was to emphasize the importance of doubt, and avoidance of accepting as truth anything that does not admit of absolute and unqualified proof. In reaching these conclusions he had before him the striking examples of scientific deductions by Galileo, and more recently the discovery of the circulation of the blood by Harvey. This last came as a revelation to scientists, reducing this seemingly occult process, as it did, to the field of mechanical phenomena. The same mechanical laws that governed the heavenly bodies, as shown by Galileo, governed the action of the human heart, and, for aught any one knew, every part of the body, and even the mind itself. Having once conceived this idea, Descartes began a series of dissections and experiments upon the lower animals, to find, if possible, further proof of this general law. To him the human body was simply a machine, a complicated. mechanism, whose fimctions were controlled just as any other piece of machinery. He compared the human body to complicated machinery run by water-falls and complicated pipes. " The nerves of the machine which I am describing," he says, "may very well be compared to the pipes of these waterworks its muscles and its tendons to the other various
;
engines and springs which seem to
move them
its ani-
mal
spirits to
is
the heart
the water which impels them, of which the fountain; while the cavities of the
office.
brain are the central
Moreover, respiration
194
RENE DESCARTES
(From the painting by Frans
Hals, in the gallery of the Louvre
)
and other such actions as are natural and usual in the body, and which depend on the course of the spirits, are like the movements of a clock, or a mill, which may be kept up by the ordinary flow of water." ^ In such passages as these Descartes anticipates the He believed ideas of physiology of the present time. that the functions are performed by the various organs
of the bodies of animals
and men as a mechanism,

the soul.
to which in
man was added
This soul he
located in the pineal gland, a degenerate and presumably functionless little organ in the brain. For years Descartes's idea of the fimction of this gland was held
and it was only the introduction of modem high -power microscopy that reduced this also to a mere mechanism, and showed that it is apparently the remains of a Cyclopean eye once common to man's remote ancestors. Descartes was the originator of a theory of the movements of the universe by a mechanical process the Cartesian theory of vortices which for several decades after its promulgation reigned supreme in
physiologists,
by many
science.
It is the ingenuity of this theory,

its assertions,
not the
truth of
it
that
still
excites admiration, for
the best, hitherto advanced

bert.
has long since been supplanted. It was certainly the best "that the ob-
servations of the age admitted," according to D'Alem-
According to this theory the

Matter, as Descartes believed,
infinite universe is full
of matter, there being no such thing as a

is
vacuum.
uniform in character throughout the entire universe, and since motion cannot take place in any part of a space completely filled,
195
without simultaneous movement in all other parts, there are constant more or less circular movements,
vortices, or whirlpools of particles, varying, of course,
and velocity. As a result of this circular movement the particles of matter tend to become globular from contact with one another. Two species of matter are thus formed, one larger and globular, which conin size
tinue their circular motion with a constant tendency
from the centre of the axis of rotation, the other composed of the clippings resulting from the grinding These smaller "filings" from the main bodprocess. ies, becoming smaller and smaller, gradually lose their velocity and accumulate in the centre of the vortex.
to fly
This collection of the smaller matter in the centre of the vortex constitutes the sun or star, while the spherical particles
propelled in straight lines from the cen-
tre
towards the circumference of the vortex produce the
phenomenon of light radiating from the central star. Thus this matter becomes the atmosphere revolving around the accumulation at the centre. But the small particles being constantly worn away from the revolving spherical particles in the vortex, become entangled in their passage, and when they reach the edge of the inner strata of solar dust they settle upon it and form what we call sun - spots. These are constantly dissolved and reformed, until sometimes they form a
crust round the central nucleus.
As the expansive
course of time,
force of the star diminishes in the.
encroached upon by neighboring vortices. If the part of the encroaching star be of a less velocity than the star which it has swept up, it will presently lose its hold, and the smaller star^ pass out of
it is
196
GOTTFRIED WILHELM VON LEIBNITZ
PHILOSOPHER. SCIENTISTS
range, becoming a comet. But if the Telocity of the vortex into which the incrusted star settles be equivalent to that of the surrounded vortex, it will hold it as a captive, still revolving and "wrapt in its own firmament." Thus the several planets of our solar system have been captured and held by the sun- vortex, as have the moon and other satellites. But although these new theories at first created great enthusiasm among all classes of philosophers and scientists, they soon came under the ban of the Church. While no actual harm came to Descartes
were condemned by the Catholic and Protestant churches alike. The spirit of philosophical inquiry he had engendered, however, lived on, and is largely responsible for modern philoshimself, his writings
ophy. In many ways the life and works of Leibnitz remind us of Bacon rather than Descartes. His life was spent in filling high political positions, and his
philosophical
his fertile
and
scientific writings
were by-paths of
being
mind.
He was
a theoretical rather than
a practical
scientist, his contributions to science
in the nature of philosophical reasonings rather than
practical demonstrations.
draw from public

alone,
Had he been able to withand devote himself to science as Descartes did, he would undoubtedly have
life
proved himself equally great as a practical worker.
But during the time

sophical
fields,
of his greatest activity in philo-
between the years 1690 and 1716, he
was
time performing extraordinary active fields. His work may be regarded, perhaps, as doing for Germany in particular
all
the
duties in entirely foreign
VOL.
II.
14
ipy
what Bacon's did
for
England and the
rest of the
world in general. Only a comparatively small part of his philosophical writings concern us here. According to his theory of the ultimate elements of the universe, the entire universe is composed of individual centres, or monads. To these monads he ascribed numberless qualities by which every phase of nature may be accounted. They were supposed by him to be percipient, selfacting beings, not under arbitrary control of the
deity, and yet God himself was the original monad from which all the rest are generated. With this conception as a basis, Leibnitz deduced his doctrine of pre-established harmony, whereby the numerous independent substances composing the world are made to form one universe. He believed that by virtue of an inward energy monads develop themselves spon-
each being independent of every other. In short, each monad is a kind of deity in itself microcosm representing all the great features of the
taneously,
macrocosm. It would be impossible clearly to estimate the

precise value of the
stimulative influence of these
philosophers upon the scientific thought of their time.
There was one way, however, in which their influence was made very tangible ^namely, in the incentive they
gave to the foundation of
scientific societies.
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
At the present
time,
when
the elements of time
and distance are practically eliminated in the propagation of news, and when cheap printing has mini198
mized the
difficulties of
publishing scientific discov-
eries, it is difficult to
understand the isolated position
of the scientific investigation of the ages that pre-
ceded steam and electricity. Shut off from the world and completely out of touch with fellow-laborers perhaps only a few miles away, the investigators were naturally seriously handicapped; and inventions and discoveries were not made with the same rapidity that they would undoubtedly have been had the same men been receiving daily, weekly, or monthly communications from fellow-laborers all over the world, Neither did they have the adas they do to-day. vantage of public or semi-public laboratories, where they were brought into contact with other men, from whom to gather fresh trains of thought and receive the stimulus of their successes or failures. In the natural course of events, however, neighbors who were interested in somewhat similar pursuits, not of the character of the rivalry of trade or commerce, would
meet more or less frequently and discuss their progress. The mutual advantages of such intercourse would be at once appreciated; and it would be but a short step from the casual meeting of two neighborly
scientists to the establishment of "societies,"
meeting
at fixed times,
and composed
of
members
living within
There would, perhaps, be the weekly or monthly meetings of men in a limited area; and as the natural outgrowth of these little local societies, with frequent meetings, would come the formation of larger societies, meeting less often, where members travelled a considerable distance to attend. And, finally, with increased facilities for
reasonable travelling distance.
199
commtinication and travel, the great international the natural societies of to-day would be produced meetings of neighborly the primitive outcome of the
mediseval investigators. In Italy, at about the time of Galileo, several small

societies
were formed.
One
of the
most important
of
these was the Lyncean
Society, founded about the
year 1611, Galileo himself being a member. This society was succeeded by the Accademia del Cimento, at Florence, in 1657, which for a time flotirished, with such a famous scientist as Torricelli as one of its
members. In England an impetus seems to have been given by Sir Francis Bacon's writings in criticism and censure It is supposed of the system of teaching in colleges. that his suggestions as to what should be the aims
of a scientific society led eventually to the establish-
ment
Royal Society. He pointed out how little had really been accomplished by the existing institutions of learning in advancing science, and asserted that little good could ever come from them while their methods of teaching remained unchanged. He contended that the system which made the lectures and exercises of such a nature that no deviation from the established routine could be thought of was pernicious. But he showed that if any teacher had the temerity to turn from the traditional paths, the daring pioneer was likely to find insurmountable obstacles placed in the way of his advancement.' The studies were "imprisoned" within the limits of a certain set of authors, and originality in thought or teaching was
of the
to be neither contemplated nor tolerated,
200
The words
of Bacon, given in strong
and unsparing
terms of censure and condemnation, but nevertheless with perfect justification, soon bore fruit. As early as the year 1645 a small company of scientists had been in the habit of meeting at some place in London
to discuss philosophical
tal
and
scientific subjects for
men-
In 1648, owing to the political disturbances of the time, some of the members of these meetings removed to Oxford, among them Boyle,
advancement.
and Wren, where the meetings were continued, as were also the meetings of those left in London. In 1662, however, when the political situation had become more settled, these two bodies of men were united under a charter from Charles II., and Bacon's ideas were practically expressed in that learned body, the Royal Society of London. And it matters little that in some respects Bacon's views were not followed
Wallis,
in the practical workings of the society, or that the
division of labor in the early stages

different
was somewhat
;
than at present. The aim of the society has always been one for the advancement of learning and if Bacon himself could look over its records, he would surely have little fault to find with the aid it has given in carrying out his ideas for the promulgation of useful knowledge. Ten years after the charter was granted to the Royal Society of London, Lord Bacon's words took practical effect in Germany, with the result that the Academia Naturae Curiosorum was founded, under the leadership of Professor J. C. Sturm. The early labors of this society were devoted to a repetition of the most notable experiments of the time, and the work of the embryo
201
was published in two volumes, in 1672 and which were practically text-books of the physics of the period. It was not until 1700 that Frederick I. founded the Royal Academy of
society
1685 respectively,
Sciences at Berlin, after the elaborate plan of Leibnitz,
who was
himself the
first
president.
Perhaps the nearest realization of Bacon's ideal, however, is in the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, which was founded in 1666 under the administration
of Colbert, during the reign of Louis
XIV.
This in-
stitution not only recognized independent members, but had besides twenty pensionnaires who receivedsalaries from the government. In this way a select body of scientists were enabled to pursue their investigations without being obliged to "give thought to the morrow" for their sustenance. In return they were to furnish the meetings with scientific memoirs, and once a year give an account of the work they were engaged upon. Thus a certain number of the brightest minds were encouraged to devote their entire time to scientific research, " delivered alike from the temptations of wealth or the embarrassments of poverty." That such a plan works well is amply attested by the Penresults emanating from the French academy. sionnaires in various branches of science, however,
either paid
by the
state or
by learned
societies, are
no longer confined to France.
Among
Imperial
jected
Academy of by Peter the
the other early scientific societies was the Sciences at St. Petersburg, proGreat, and established
;
by
his
widow, Catharine I., in 1725 and also the Royal Swedish Academy, incorporated in 1781, and counting
202
PHILOSOPHER -SCIENTISTS
among
its
early
members such men
as the celebrated
had resulted in a few learned societies, their manifest advantage was so evident that additional numbers increased rapidly, until at present almost every branch of every science is represented by more or less important bodies; and these are, individually and collectively, adding to knowledge and stimtilating interest in the many fields of science, thus vindicating Lord Bacon's asseverations that knowledge could be satisfactorily promulgated in this manner.
LinncBus.
But
after the first impulse
X
THE SUCCESSORS OF GALILEO
SCIENCE
have now to witness the diversified efforts of a of men who, working for the most part independently, greatly added to the data of the physisuch men as Boyle, Huygens, Von cal sciences It will be found that the studies Gericke, and Hooke. of these men covered the whole field of physical sciences as then understood the field of so-called natural phiIN
PHYSICAL
WE
company
losophy.
We shall best treat these successors of Galileo

of
and precursors
Newton somewhat
biographically,
pointing out the correspondences and differences be-
tween their various accomplishments as we proceed. It will be noted in due course that the work of some of them was anticipatory of great achievements of a later
century.
ROBERT BOYLE (1627-1691)
Some
of
Robert Boyle's views as to the possible

little
structure of atmospheric air will be considered a

farther on in this chapter, but for the
moment we
will
take up the consideration of some of his experiments upon that as well as other gases. Boyle was always much interested in alchemy, and carried on extensive
experiments in attempting to accomplish the transmutation of metals; but he did not confine himself to
204

these experiments, devoting himself to researches in
all
the
fields of
natural philosophy.
He was
associated
at Oxford with a
company of scientists, including Wallis and Wren, who held meetings and made experiments together, these gatherings being the be-
moment ago, of what finally became the Royal Society. It was during this residence at Oxford that many of his valuable researches upon air were made, and during this time he invented his air - pump, now exhibited in the Royal Society rooms at Burlington House. ^
ginning, as mentioned a
His experiments to prove the atmospheric pressure
and conclusive. "Having three round glass bubbles, blown at the flame of a lamp, about the size of hazel-nuts," he says, "each of them with a short, slender stem, by means whereof they were so exactly poised in water that a very small change of weight would make them either emerge or sink; at a time when the atmosphere was of convenient weight, I put them into a wide-mouthed glass of common V\rater, and leaving them in a quiet place, where they were frequently in my eye, I observed that sometimes they would be at the top of the water, and remain there for several days, or perhaps weeks, together, and sometimes fall to the bottom, and after having continued there for some time rise again. And sometimes they would rise or fall as the air was hot or
are most interesting
small,
cold."
It
was
in the course of these experiments that the
observations
made by Boyle
led to the invention of his
"statical barometer," the mercurial barometer hav-
ing been invented, as
we have
205
seen,
by
Torricelli, in
In describing this invention he says: "Making 1643. choice of a large, thin, and Hght glass bubble, blown
at the flame of a lamp,
lic
counterpoised
it
with a metal-
weight, in a pair of scales that were suspended in a
grain.
frame, that would turn with the thirtieth part of a Both the frame and the balance were then
placed near a good barometer, whence I might learn the present weight of the atmosphere; when, though the
scales were unable to show all the variations that appeared in the mercurial barometer, yet they gave notice of those that altered the height of the mercury half a quarter of an inch." ^ A fairly sensitive barometer, This statical barometer suggested several after all. useful applications to the fertile imagination of its inventor, among others the measuring of moiintainpeaks, as with the mercurial barometer, the rarefication of the air at the top giving a definite ratio to the more condensed air in the valley. Another of his experiments was made to discover the atmospheric pressure to the square inch. After considerable difficulty he determined that the relative weight of a cubic inch of water and mercury was about one to fourteen, and computing from other known weights he determined that "when^ a column of quicksilver thirty inches high is sustained in the barometer, as it frequently happens, a column of air that presses upon an inch square near the surface of the earth must weigh about fifteen avoirdupois pounds." ^ As the pressure of air at the sea-level is now estimated at 14.7304 pounds to the square inch, it will be seen that Boyle's calculation was not far wrong. From his numerous experiments upon the air, 206
'

Boyle was led to believe that there were many " latent qualities" due to substances contained in it that science had as yet been unable to fathom, believing that there is "not a more heterogeneous body in the world." He believed that contagious diseases were
carried
by the
air,
and suggested that eruptions
of
the earth, such as those made by earthquakes, might send up "venomous exhalations" that produced
He suggested also that the air might play an important part in some processes of calcination, which, as we shall see, was proved to be true by Ladiseases.
voisier late in the eighteenth century.
Boyle's no-
tions of the exact chemical action in these
phenomena
but he had observed that some part was played by the air, and he was right in supposing that the air "ma}^ have a great share in varying the salts obtainable from calcined
indefinite,
vitriol."
were of course vague and
server of facts, he
Although he was himself such a painstaking obhad the fault of his age of placing
too
faith in hear-say evidence of untrained obThus, from the numerous stories he heard concerning the growth of metals in previously exhausted mines, he believed that the air was responîn which he unsible for producing this growth
servers.
much
doubtedly believed.
in his
The story
of a tin
-miner that,
own
time,
after a lapse of only twenty-five
a heap of earth previously exhausted of its ore became again even more richly impregnated than before by lying exposed to the air, seems to have been
years,
believed
by the philosopher. As Boyle was an alchemist, and undoubtedly

207
be-

lieved in the alchemic theory that metals have " spirits"
and various other
qualities that
do not
exist, it is
not
surprising that he was credulous in the matter of beliefs concerning peculiar phenomena exhibited by
them.
error
Furthermore,
he undoubtedly
fell
into
the
common
to "specialists," or persons working for
long periods of time on one subject
the error of over-
enthusiasm in his subject. He had discovered so many remarkable qualities in the air that it is not surprising to find that he attributed to it many more that he could not demonstrate. Boyle's work upon colors, although probably of less importance than his experiments and deductions upon air, show that he was in the van as far as the science of As he points out, the schools his day was concerned. of his time generally taught that "color is a penetrating quality, reaching to the innermost part of the substance," and, as an example of this, sealing-wax was cited, which could be broken into minute bits,
each particle retaining the same color as its fellows or the original mass. To refute this theory, and to show instances to the contrary, Boyle, among other things, shows that various colors blue, red, yellow may be produced upon tempered steel, and yet the metal within "a hair's-breadth of its surface" have none of these colors. Therefore, he was led to believe
that color, in opaque bodies at least, is superficial. " But before we descend to a more particular consideration of our subject," he says, " 'tis proper to
be regarded either as a quality residing in bodies to modify light after a particular manner, or else as light itself so modified
observe
that
colors
may
208

upon the organs of sight, and cause the call color; and that this latter is the more proper acceptation of the word color will appear
as to strike
sensation
we
hereafter.
And
indeed
it
is
the light
itself,
which
manner, either mixed with shades or and immediately produces that motion in the organ which gives us the color of an object." ^ In examining smooth and rough surfaces to determine the cause of their color, he made use of the microscope, and pointed out the very obvious example of the difference in color of a rough and a polished piece of the same block of stone. He used some
after a certain
otherwise, strikes our eyes
striking illustrations of the effect of light
position of the eye
upon
plush or velvet will

of
it
and the Thus the color of appear various if you stroke part
colors.
"
one way and part another, the posture of the
particular threads in regard to the light, or the eye,
being thereby varied.

field of ripe
And
'tis
observable that in a
com, blown upon by the wind, there will appear waves of a color different from that of the rest of the com, because the wind, by depressing some of the ears more than others, causes one to reflect more light from the lateral and strawy parts than another."^ His work upon color, however, as upon light, was entirely overshadowed by the work of his great fellow-countryman Newton. Boyle's work on electricity was a continuation of He Gilbert's, to which he added several new facts. " added several substances to Gilbert's list of electrics," experimented on smooth and rough surfaces in exciting of electricity, and made the important discovery
209
that amber retained
friction that excited it
its
attractive virtue after the
had ceased. " For the attrition intestine motion in its parts," he having caused an
is
ought not to cease but to continue capable of emitting effluvia for some time afterwards, longer or shorter according to the goodness of
as soon as ever the rubbing
over,
says, " the heat thereby excited
the electric and the degree of the commotion made;

all
which, joined together,
may
sometimes make the
effect considerable;
day,
I,
and by this means, on a warm with a certain body not bigger than a pea, but
very vigorously attractive, moved a steel needle, freely poised, about three minutes after I had left off rubbing it."'
MARIOTTE AND VON GUERICKE
Working contemporaneously with Boyle, and a man whose name is usually associated with his as the propounder of the law of density of gases, was Edme Mariotte (died 1684), a native of Burgundy. Mariotte demonstrated that but for the resistance of the atmosphere, all bodies, whether light or heavy, dense or thin, would fall with equal rapidity, and he proved
by the well-known " guinea-and-f eather " experiment. Having exhausted the air from a long glass
this
tube in which a guinea piece and a feather had been placed, he showed that in the vacuum thus formed they fell with equal rapidity as often as the tube was reversed. From his various experiments as to the pressure of the atmosphere he deduced the law that the density and elasticity of the atmosphere are precisely proportional to the compressing force (the law of Boyle 210

and Mariotte).
in a state of
He
also ascertained that air existed
mechanical mixture with liquids, "existing between their particles in a state of condensation." He made many other experiments, especially on the collision of bodies, but his most important work was upon the atmosphere. But meanwhile another contemporary of Boyle and Mariotte was interesting himself in the study of the atmosphere, and had made a wonderful invention and a most striking demonstration. This was Otto von Guericke (i 602-1 686), Burgomaster of Magdeburg, and councillor to his "most serene and potent Highness" the elector of that place. When not engrossed with the duties of public office, he devoted his time to the study of the sciences, particularly pneumatics and electricit}^, both then in their infancy. The discoveries of Galileo, Pascal, and Torricelli incited him to solve the problem of the creation of a vacuum a desideratum since before the days of Aristotle. His first experiments were with a wooden pump. and a barrel of water, but he soon found that with such porous material as wood a vacuum could not be created or maintained. He therefore made use of a globe of copper, with pump and stop-cock and with this he was able to pump out air almost as easily as water. Thus, in 1650, the airpump was invented. Continuing his experiments upon vacuums and atmospheric pressure with his newly discovered pump, he made some startling discoveries as to the enormous pressure exerted by the air. It was not his intention, however, to demonstrate his newly acquired knowledge by words or theories alone, nor by mere laboratory experiments; but he chose
211
instead an open
Ferdinand
bon.
III.,
When
which were invited Emperor the princes of the Diet at Ratisthey were assembled he produced two
field,
to
and
all
hollow brass hemispheres about two feet in diameter, and placing their exactly fitting surfaces together, pro-
ceeded to pump out the air from their hollow interior, thus causing them to stick together firmly in a most
remarkable way, apparently without anything holding them. This of itself was strange enough but now the worthy burgomaster produced teams of horses, and
;
harnessing
them
to either side of the hemispheres, at-
tempted to pull the adhering brasses apart. Five, ten, fifteen teams thirty horses, in all were attached but pull and tug as they would they could not separate the firmly clasped hemispheres. The enormous pressure of the atmosphere had been most strikingly de-
monstrated.
But
vince;
it is
one thing to demonstrate, another to conof the
Magdeburg shook their heads over this "devil's contrivance," and predicted that Heaven would punish the Herr Burgomaster, as indeed it had once by striking his house with lightning and injuring some of his infernal contrivances. They predicted his future punishment, but they did
good people
of
and many
not molest him, for to his fellow-citizens, who talked and laughed, drank and smoked with him, and knew him for the honest citizen that he was, he did not seem bewitched at all. And so he lived and worked and
added other facts to science, and his brass hemispheres were not destroyed by fanatical Inquisitors, but are
still
preserved in the royal library at Berlin. In his experiments with his air-pump he discovered
212
VON GUERICKE
(From Dannemann's
AIR-PUMP
Geschichle der
N aturwissenschaften.)

many
things regarding the action of gases,
among
others, that animals cannot
Hve
in a vacuiim.
He
in-
and being vented the anemoscope and thus enabled to weight the air and note the changes that preceded storms and calms, he was able still further to dumf ound his wondering fellow - Magde burgers by more or less accurate predictions about the
the air-balance,
weather.
Von Guericke did not accept Gilbert's theory that the earth was a great magnet, but in his experiments
along lines similar to those pursued
by
Gilbert, he not
only invented the
first electrical
machine, but discov-
ered electrical attraction and repulsion.
The
electrical
machine which he invented consisted of a sphere of sulphur mounted on an iron axis to imitate the rotation of the earth, and which, when rubbed, manifested electrical reactions. When this globe was revolved and stroked with the dry hand it was found that it attached
to
it
"all sorts of little fragments, like leaves of gold,
silver,
paper, etc."
"
Thus
this globe," he says, "
when
brought rather near drops of water causes them to swell and puff up. It likewise attracts air, smoke, etc." ^ Before the time of Guericke's demonstrations, Cabaeus had noted that chaff leaped back from an " electric," but he did not interpret the phenomenon as electrical repulsion. Von Guericke, however, recognized it as such, and refers to it as what he calls " expulsive virtue."
"Even
expulsive virtue
is
seen in
but also repels again from itself little bodies of this sort, nor does it receive them until they have touched something else." It will be observed from this that he was
VOL.
II.
this globe," he says, "for it not only. attracts,
IS
21
very close to discovering the discharge of the electrifiby contact with some other object, after which they are reattracted by the electric. He performed a most interesting experiment with his sulphur globe and a feather, and in doing so came near anticipating Benjamin Franklin in his discovery of the effects of pointed conductors in drawing off the Having revolved and stroked his globe discharge. until it repelled a bit of down, he removed the globe from its rack and advancing it towards the now repellent down, drove it before him about the room. In this chase he observed that the down preferred to alight against "the points of any object whatsoever." He noticed that should the down chance to be driven within a few inches of a lighted candle, its attitude towards the globe suddenly changed, and instead of running away from it, it now " flew to it for protection " the charge on the down having been dissipated by the hot air. He also noted that if one face of a feather had been first attracted and then repelled by the sulcation of attracted bodies
phur ball, that the surface so af[ected was always turned towards the globe; so that if the positions of the two were reversed, the sides of the feather reversed
also.
Still
another important discovery, that of electrical
conduction, was
electricity
made by Von
Guericke.
Until his
discovery no one had observed the transference of
from one body to another, although Gilbert
had some time before noted that a rod rendered magnetic at one end became so at the other. Von Guericke' s experiments were made upon a linen thread with his sulphur globe, v/hich, he says, "having been 214

previously excited
by rubbing, can
But
exercise likewise its
virtue through a linen thread an
ell
or
more
long,
there attract something."

his equally
this discovery,
and and
important one that the sulphur ball becomes luminous when rubbed, were practically forgotten until again brought to notice by the discoveries of Francis Hauksbee and Stephen Gray early in the
eighteenth century.
From
this
we may gather
that
Von Guericke
himself did not realize the import of his

further.
discoveries, for otherwise he
ried his investigations
still
would certainly have carBut as it was he

fields of research.
turned his attention to other
ROBERT HOOKE
A
little
slender, crooked, shri veiled-limbed, cantankerous
man, with dishevelled hair and haggard countenance, bad-tempered and irritable, penurious and
dishonest, at least in his claims for priority in dis-
coveries
this is the picture usually
drawn, alike by
friends and enemies, of Robert Hooke (1635-1703), a man with an almost unparalleled genius for scientific
discoveries in almost all branches of science.
History
really
gives few examples so striking of a
man whose
great achievements in science would alone have

his
made
immortal, and yet who had the pusillanimous spirit of a charlatan an almost insane mania, as it
name
seems
for claiming the credit of discoveries made by

This attitude of
others.
mind can hardly be explained
except as a mania: it is certainly more charitable so to regard it. For his own discoveries and inventions were so
numerous that a few more or less would hardly have added to his fame, as his reputation as a
215
philosopher was well established. Admiration for his ability and his philosophical knowledge must always be
marred by the
recollection of his arrogant claims to
the disboveries of other philosophers. It seems pretty definitely determined that
Hooke
should be credited with the invention of the balancespring for regulating watches; but for a long time a heated controversy was wâged between Hooke and
Huygens as to who was the real inventor. It appears Hooke conceived the idea of the balance-spring, while to Huygens belongs the credit of having adapted
that
the coiled spring in a working model.

practical Hooke's conception,
He
is
;
which
thus made without value
except as applied by the coiled spring but, nevertheless,
the inventor, as well as the perfector, should

credit.
receive
In
this
controversy,
unlike
many
blame cannot be laid at Hooke's door. Hooke was the first curator of the Royal Society, and when anything was to be investigated, usually
others, the
invented the mechanical devices for doing so. Astronomical apparatus, instruments for measuring specific weights, clocks and chronometers, methods
of
measuring the velocity of
falling bodies, freezing
and boiling points, strength of gunpowder, magnetic instruments in short, all kinds of ingenious mechanical devices in all branches of science and mechanics. It was he who made the famous air-pump of Robert Boyle, based on Boyle's plans. Incidentally, Hooke claimed to be the inventor of the first air-pump
himself, although this claim
is
now entirely
discredited.
Within a period of two years he devised no less than thirty different methods of flying, all of which, of
216
REPRODUCTION OF A PLATE
Showing the points
IN liOOKE
MICROSCOPICAL OBSER-
VATIONS"
of a needle (Fig. i), a printed dot (Fig. 2). and the edge of a razor (Fig. 3), as magnified by Hooke's microscope.

course,
came
to nothing,
but go to show the
fertile
imagination of the man, and his
tireless energy.
He
novel
experimented with electricity

suggestions
and made some
upon the difference between the electric spark and the glow, although on the whole his conHe also first tributions in this field are unimportant. bodies heavenly pointed out that the motions of the must be looked upon as a mechanical problem, and was almost within grasping distance of the exact theory of gravitation, himself originating the idea of making use Likewise, he of the pendulum in measuring gravity.
proposed the wave theory of light although it was Huygens who established it on its present foundation. Hooke published, among other things, a book of plates and descriptions of his Microscopical Observations, which gives an idea of the advance that had
first
;
already been
made
in microscopy in his time.
Two
of these plates are given here, which, even in this age
both interesting and instructive. These plates are made from prints of Hooke' s original copper plates, and show that excellent lenses were made even at that time. They illustrate, also, how much might have been accomplished in the field of medicine if more attention had been given to microsEven a century later, had copy by physicians.
of microscopy, are
physicians
made
better use of their microscopes, they
could hardly have overlooked such an easily found parasite as the itch mite, which is quite as easily detected as the cheese mite, pictured in Hooke's book.
In justice to Hooke, and in extenuation of his otherwise inexcusable peculiarities of mind, it should be remembered that for many years he suffered from a
217
painful
his
and wasting disease. This may have affected mental equilibrium, without appreciably affecting In his own time this condition would his ingenuity. hardly have been considered a disease but to-day, with our advanced ideas as to mental diseases, we should be
;
more mind
of
inclined to ascribe his unfortunate attitude of
to a pathological condition, rather than to
any
manifestation of normal mentality.
From
this point
view
his
mental deformity seems not unlike that of

itself
Cavendish's, later, except that in the case of Cavendish

it
manifested
as
an abnormal sensitiveness
in-
stead of
an abnormal
irritability.
CHRISTIAN HUYGENS
nothing else, the world is indebted to the man who invented the pendulum clock, Christian Huygens (162 9- 1695), of the Hague, inventor, mathematician, miechanician, astronomer, and physicist. Huygens was the descendant of a noble and distinguished family, his father. Sir Constantine Huygens, being a wellknown poet and diplomatist. Early in life young Huygens began his career in the legal profession, completing his education in the juridical school at Breda but his taste for mathematics soon led him to
If for
;
neglect his legal studies,

tific
and his aptittide for scienwas so marked that Descartes predicted great things of him even while he was a mere tyro in
researches
the
field of scientific investigation.
of his first endeavors in science was to attempt an im.provement of the telescope. Reflecting upon the process of making lenses then in vogue, young Huygens and his brother Constantine attempted a
One
218
ROBERT HOOKE
MICROSCOPE

new method
aberration.
of grinding of
and
overcame a great deal
whereby they and chromatic the spherical

polishing,
With
detect,
this
new
telescope a
much
clearer
field of vision
was obtained, so much so that Huygens
was able to
other things, a hitherto unknown satellite of Saturn. It was these astronomical researches that led him to apply the pendulum to
regulate the movements of clocks. The need for some more exact method of measuring time in his observations of the stars was keenly felt by the young astronomer, and after several experiments along different lines, Huygens hit upon the use of a swinging weight; and in 1656 made his invention of the pendulum clock. The 3êar following, his clock was pre-
among
sented to the states-general.
Accuracy as to time
is
absolutely essential in astronomy, but until the in-
vention of Huygens 's clock there was no precise, nor even approximately precise, means of measuring short
intervals.
adapt the micrometer mechanical device on which all the nice determination of minute distances depends. He also took up the controversy against Hooke as to the superiority of telescopic over plain sights to quadIn this rants, Hooke contending in favor of the plain. controversy, the subject of which attracted wide at-
Huygens was one
to the telescope
of the first to
tention,
Huygens was completely
victorious;
and
Hooke, being unable to refute Huygens's arguments, exhibited such irritability that he increased his already general unpopularity. All of the arguments for and against the telescope sight are too numerous to be
given here.
In contending in
219
its
favor Huygens point-
ed out that the unaided eye is unable to appreciate an angular space in the sky less than about thirty seconds. Even in the best quadrant with a plain sight, therefore, the altitude must be uncertain by that quantity. If in place of the plain sight a telescope is substituted, even if it magnify only thirty times, it will enable the observer to fix the position to one second, with progressively increased accuracy as the magnifying power This was only one of the of the telescope is increased. many telling arguments advanced by Huygens. In the field of optics, also, Huygens has added considerably to science, and his work. Dioptrics, is said to have been a favorite book with Newton, During the later part of his life, however, Huygens again devoted
himself
to
inventing
and constructing
if
telescopes,
grinding the lenses, and devising,

ing,
not actually mak-
These telescopes lengths, three of his enormous object-glasses, were now in possession of the Royal Society, being of 123, Such in180, and 210 feet focal length respectively. struments, if constructed in the ordinary form of the long tube, were very unmanageable, and to obviate this Huygens adopted the plan of dispensing with the tube altogether, mounting his lenses on long poles Even these were unmanipulated by machinery. wieldy enough, but the difficulties of manipulation were fully compensated by the results obtained. It had been discovered, among other things, that in
the frame for holding them.
of
oblique refraction light

fore,
is
separated into colors. There-
any small portion
of the
convex lens
of the tele-
scope, being a prism, the rays proceed to the focus, sep-
arated into prismatic colors, which 220
make
the image

thus formed edged with a fringe of color and indistinct.
But, fortunately for the early telescope makers, the
degree of this aberration
is
independent of the focal
length of the lens; so that,
by
increasing this focal
length and using the appropriate eye-piece, the image
can be greatly magnified, while the fringe of colors remains about the same as when a less powerful lens is Hence the advantage of Huygens's long teleused.
scope.
He
did not confine his efforts to simply lengththeir efficiency
ening the focal length of his telescopes, however, but

also
added to
by inventing an almost
perfect achromatic eye-piece.
In 1663 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London, and in 1669 he gave to that body a concise statement of the laws governing the collision of elastic Although the same views had been given by bodies. and Wren a few weeks earlier, there is no doubt Wallis
that Huygens's views were reached independently;
probable that he had arrived at his conIn the Philosophical Transactions for 1669 it is recorded that the society, being interested in the laws of the principles of motion, a request was made that M. Huygens, Dr. Wallis, and Sir Christopher V/ren submit their views on the subit is
and
clusions
several years before.
ject.
Wallis submitted his paper
first,
November
15,
1668,
A month later,
And
December
17th,
Wren imparted
to the society his laws as to the nature of the collision
January 5, 1669, Huygens sent in his "Rules Concerning the Motion of Bodies after Mutual Impulse." Although Huygens's report was received last, he was anticipated b}?- such a brief space of time, and his vews are so clearly stated
of bodies.
later,
a few days
221
on
two
the whole rather more so than those of the other
that we give them in part here:

body should
strike against a body-
"i. If a hard
equally hard at rest, after contact the former will rest
and the latter acquire a velocity equal to that of the moving body. " 2. But if that other equal body be likewise in motion, and moving in the same direction, after contact
they will
"
S-
move with
reciprocal velocities.
body, however great, is moved by a body however small impelled with any velocity whatsoever. "5. The quantity of motion of two bodies may be either increased or diminished by their shock but the
;
same quantity towards the same part remains,
after
subtracting the quantity of the contrary motion, "6. The sum of the products arising from multiplying the mass of any hard
velocity
is
body
into the squares of its
the same both before and after the stroke.
hard body at rest will receive a greater quantity of motion from another hard body, either greater or less than itself, by the interposition of any third body of a mean quantity, than if it was immediately
"7.
and if the interposing body be a mean proportional between the other two, its action upon the quiescent body will be the greatest of all.'' "
struck
b}'-
the body
itself
This was only one of several interesting and important communications sent to the Royal Society during One of these was a report on what he his lifetime. "Upon including calls " Pneumatical Experiments."
in a
vacuum an
insect resembling a beetle,
but some-
222
HUYGENS
(Side view, showing the
CLOCK
pendulum mechanism.)

what larger," he says, " when it seemed to be dead, the air was readmitted, and soon after it revived; putting it again in the vacuum, and leaving it for an hour, after which the air was readmitted, it was observed that the
insect required a longer time to recover; including
it
the third time for two days, after which the air was
admitted,
putting
rabbits,
it
it
was ten hours before

. .
it
began to
stir
but,
in a fourth time, for eight days, it

.
never
afterwards recovered.
Several birds, rats, mice,
and cats were killed in a vacuum, but if the air was admitted before the engine was quite exhausted some of them would recover; yet none revived that Upon putting had been in a perfect vacuum. the weight of eighteen grains of powder with a gauge into a receiver that held several pounds of water, and firing the powder, it raised the mercury an inch and a half from which it appears that there is one-fifth of air in gunpowder, upon the supposition that air is
,
about one thousand times lighter than water; for in this experiment the mercury rose to the eighteenth part of the height at which the air commonly sustains it, and consequently the weight of eighteen grains of powder yielded air enough to fill the eighteenth part of a receiver that contained seven pounds of water;
now
this eighteenth part contains forty-nine
of water; wherefore the air, that takes
drachms up an equal
space, being a thousand times lighter, weighs onethousandth part of forty-nine drachms, which is more than three grains and a half it follows, therefore, that the weight of eighteen grains of powder contains more than three and a half of air, which is about one-fifth
;
of eighteen grains.
..."
223
From 1665 to 1681, accepting the tempting offer made him through Colbert, by Louis XIV., Huygens
pursued
his studies at the Biblioth^que
du Roi
as a
resident of France.
Here he pubHshed
his Horolo-
giiim Oscillatorimn, dedicated to the king, containing,
among
other things, his solution of the problem of the
"centre of oscillation."
This in
itself
tant step in the history of mechanics.

true that the centre of gravity of any
was an imporAssuming as
of inter-
number
dependent bodies cannot rise higher than the point from which it falls, he reached correct conclusions as
to the general principle of the conservation of vis viva,
although he did not actually prove his conclusions. This was the first attempt to deal with the dynamics In this work, also, was the true deterof a system. mination of the relation between the length of a pendulum and the time of its oscillation. In 1 68 1 he returned to Holland, influenced, it is believed, by the attitude that was being taken in France against his religion. Here he continued his investigations, built his
immense
telescopes, and,
among
other
things, discovered "polarization,"
which is recorded in Traite de la Lumiere, published at Leyden in 1690. Five years later he died, bequeathing his mianuscripts
It is interesting to
to the University of Leyden.
note
that he never accepted Newton's theory of gravitation

as a universal property of matter.
XI
NEWTON AND THE COMPOSITION OF LIGHT
GALILEO,
that giant in physical science of the
died in 1642. On Christmas day of the same year there was bom in England another intellectual giant who was destined to carry forward the work of Copernicus, Kepler, and
early seventeenth century,
Galileo to a marvellous consummation through the discovery of the great unifying law in accordance with
which the planetary motions are performed.

refer,
We
of course, to the greatest of English physical
Newton, the Shakespeare of the scienBorn thus before the middle of the seventeenth century, Newton lived beyond the first quarter For the last forty years of of the eighteenth (1727). that period his was the dominating scientific personalscientists, Isaac
tific
world.
With full propriety that time has been spoken of as the "Age of Newton." Yet the man who was to achieve such distinction
ity of the world.
gave no early premonition of future greatness. He v/as a sickly child from birth, and a boy of little seeming promise. He was an indifferent student, yet, on the other hand, he cared little for the common amusements of boyhood. He early exhibited, however, a taste for mechanical contrivances, and spent much time in devising windmills, water-clocks, sun-dials, and kites. While other boys were interested only in hav225
ing kites that would
fly,
Newton
at least so the
stories
cared more of a later time would have us understand for the investigation of the seeming principles involved, or for testing the best methods of attaching the strings, or the best materials to be used in construction. Meanwhile the future philosopher was acquiring a taste for reading and study, delving into old volumes whenever he found an opportunity. These habits convinced his relatives that it was useless to attempt to make a farmer of the youth, as had been their inHe was therefore sent back to school, and in tention.
the summer of 1661 he matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Even at college Newton seems to have shown no unusual mental capacity, and in 1664, when examined for a scholarship by Dr. Barrow, that gentleman is said to have formed a poor opinion of the applicant. It is said that the knowledge of the estimate placed upon his abilities by his instructor piqued Newton, and led him to take up in earnest the mathematical studies in which he afterwards attained such distinction. The study of Euclid and Descartes's " Geometry " roused in him a latent interest in mathematics, and from that time forward his investigations were carried on with enthusiasm. In 1667 he was elected Fellow of Trinity College, taking the degree of M.A. the
following spring.
It will thus
appear that Newton's boyhood and
that troublous time in British political annals which saw the overthrow of Charles I., the autocracy of Cromwell, and the eventual restoration of the Stuarts. His maturer years witnessed the overthrow of the last Stuart and 226
early
manhood were passed during
NEWTON AND COMPOSITION OF LIGHT

the reign of the Dutchman, William of Orange. In his old age he saw the first of the Hanoverians mount the throne of England. Within a decade of his death such scientific path-finders as Cavendish, Black, and
Priestley were
bommen who lived
on to the
close of
the eighteenth century. In a full sense, then, the age of Newton bridges the gap from that early time of scientific awakening under Kepler and Galileo to the
time which
essentially
we of the modem.
twentieth century think of as
THE COMPOSITION OF WHITE LIGHT

In December, 1672, Newton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and at this meeting a paper describing his invention of the refracting telescope was
read.
A few days later he wrote to the secretary, making
some inquiries as to the weekly meetings of the society, and intimating that he had an account of an interesting
discovery that he wished to lay before the society.
When
proved to be an explanation of the discovery of the composition of white light. We have seen that the question as to the nature of color had commanded the attention of such investigators as Huygens, but that no very satisfactory solution of the question had been attained. Newton proved by demonstrative experiments that white light is composed of the blending of the rays of diverse colors, and that the color that we ascribe to any object is merely due to the fact that the object in
this
communication was made
public, it
question reflects rays of that color, absorbing the rest.
That white light is really made up of many colors blended would seem incredible had not the experi227
ments by which
this
composition
is
demonstrated be-
The experiments were absolutely novel when Newton brought them forward, and his demonstration of the composition of light was
come
familiar to every one.
one of the most striking expositions ever brought to

the attention of the Royal Society.
essary to
It is hardly nec-
add that, notwithstanding the conclusive character of Newton's work, his explanations did not for a long time meet with general acceptance. Newton was led to his discovery by some experiments made with an ordinary glass prism applied to a hole
in the shutter of a
darkened room, the refracted rays
of the sunlight being received
upon the opposite wall and forming there the familiar spectrum. " It was a
;
very pleasing diversion," he wrote, "to view the vivid and intense colors produced thereby and after a time, applying myself to consider them very circumspectly, I became surprised to see them in varying form, which, according to the received laws of refraction, I expected should have been circular. They were terminated at the sides with straight lines, but at the ends the
decay of light was so gradual that it was difficult to determine justly what was their figure, yet they seemed
semicircular.
"Comparing the length of this colored spectrum with its breadth, I found it almost five times greater; a disproportion so extravagant that it excited me to a more than ordinary curiosity of examining from whence it might proceed. I could scarce think that the various thicknesses of the glass, or the termination with shadow or darkness, could have any influence on light to produce such an effect yet I thought it not amiss,
;
228

examine those circumstances, and so tried light through parts of the glass of divers thickness, or through holes in the window of divers bigness, or by setting the prism without so that the light might pass through it and be refracted before it was transmitted through the hole; but I found none of those circumstances material. The fashion of the colors was in all these cases the
first,
to
what would happen by transmitting
same.
"Then
suspected whether by any unevenness of
the glass or other contingent irregularity these colors might be thus dilated. And to try this I took another prism like the former, and so placed
light,
it
that the
passing through them both, might be refracted
contrary ways, and so by the latter returned into that course from which the former diverted it. For,
means, I thought, the regular effects of the prism would be destroyed by the second prism, but the irregular ones more augmented by the multiplicity of refractions. The event was that the light, which by the first prism was diffused into an oblong form, was by the second reduced into an orbicular one with as much regularity as when it did not all pass through them. So that, whatever was the cause of that length, 'twas not any contingent irregularity. " I then proceeded to examine more critically what might be effected by the difference of the incidence of rays coming from divers parts of the sun and to that end measured the several lines and angles belonging to the image. Its distance from the hole or prism was 2 2 feet; its utmost length 13^ inches; its breadth 2f the diameter of the hole | of an inch; the angle
this
first
;
by
VOL.
n. 16
229
which the
image,
rays, tending towards the middle of the
those Hnes, in which they would refraction, was 44 56'; and without have proceeded the vertical angle of the prism, 63 12'. Also the refracthat is, of the incident tions on both sides of the prism and emergent rays were, as near as I could make them, equal, and consequently about 54 4'; and the
made with
fell perpendicularly upon the wall. Now, subducting the diameter of the hole from the length and breadth of the image, there remains 13 inches the length, and 2f the breadth, comprehended by those
rays
through the centre of the said which that breadth subtended, was about 31', answerable to the sun's diameter; but the angle which its length subtended was more than five such diameters, namely 2 49'. " Having made these observations, I first computed from them the refractive power of the glass, and found it measured by the ratio of the sines 20 to 31. And then, by that ratio, I computed the refractions of two rays flowing from opposite parts of the sun's
rays, which, passing
hole,
discus, so as to differ 31' in their obliquity of incidence,
and found that the emergent rays should have comprehended an angle of 31', as they did, before they were
incident.
"
But because
this
computation was founded on the
hypothesis of the proportionality of the sines of incidence and refraction, which though by my own
could not imagine to be so erroneous as to make that angle but 31', which in reality was 2 49', yet my curiosity caused me again to make my prism. And having placed it at my window, as before,
experience
I
230

observed that by turning it a little about its axis to and fro, so as to vary its obliquity to the light more than an angle of 4 or 5, the colors were not thereby
I
sensibly translated from their place on the wall,
and
the
consequently
by that
variation
of
incidence
quantity of refraction was not sensibly varied. By this experiment, therefore, as well as by the former
computation, it was evident that the difference of the incidence of rays flowing from divers parts of the sun could not make them after decussation diverge at a sensibly greater angle than that at which they before converged; which being, at most, but about 31' or 32', there still remained some other cause to be
found out, from whence it could be 2 49'." All this caused Newton to suspect that the rays, after their trajection through the prism, moved in curved rather than in straight lines, thus tending to be cast
upon the wall at different places according to the amount of this curve. His suspicions were increased, also, by happening to recall that a tennis-ball sometimes describes such a curve when "cut" by a tennisracket striking the ball obliquely.
"For a circular as well as a progressive motion being communicated to it by the stroke," he says, "its parts on that side where the motions conspire must press and beat the contiguous air more violently than on the other, and there excite a reluctancy and
reaction of the air proportionately greater.
And
for
the same reason,
if
the rays of light should possibly
be globular bodies, and by their oblique passage out of one medium into another acquire a circulating motion, they ought to feel the greater resistance from the
231
ambient ether on that side where the motions conspire, and thence be continually bowed to the other. But notwithstanding this plausible ground of suspicion, when I came to examine it I could observe no such curvity in them. And, besides (which was enough for my purpose), I observed that the difference 'twixt the length of the image and diameter of the hole through which the light was transmitted was proportionable to their distance.
"The gradual removal

led
I
of these suspicions at length
me
to the experimentum cruets, which
was
this:
took two boards, and, placing one of them close behind the prism at the window, so that the light must pass through a small hole, made in it for the purpose, and fall on the other board, w^hich I placed at about twelve feet distance, having first made a small
hole in
it also,
for
I
some
of the incident light to pass
through.
Then
placed another prism behind this
second board, so that the light trajected through both the boards might pass through that also, and be again refracted before it arrived at the wall. This done, I took the first prism in my hands and turned
it
to
and
fro slowly
about
its axis,
so
much
as to
make
that
I
the several parts of the image, cast on the second

board, successively pass through the hole in
it,
might observe to what places on the wall the second prism would refract them. And I saw by the variation of these places that the light, tending to that end of the image towards which the refraction of the first prism, was made, did in the second prism suffer a refraction considerably greater than the light tending
to the other end.
And
so the true cause of the length
232

of that
light
image was detected to be no other than that

of
consists
rays
differently
refrangible, which,
without any respect to a difference in their incidence,

were, according to their degrees of refrangibility, trans-
mitted towards divers parts of the wall."
THE NATURE OF COLOR Having thus proved the composition of light, Newton took up an exhaustive discussion as to colors, which
cannot be entered into at length here. Some of his remarks on the subject of compound colors, however, may be stated in part. Newton's views are of particular interest in this connection, since, as we have
color could not
already pointed out, the question as to what constituted be agreed upon by the philosophers.
Some
held that color
was an
;
integral part of the subit
stance; others maintained that
was simply a
re-
flection from the surface and no scientific explanation had been generally accepted. Newton concludes his
paper as follows "I might add more instances of this nature, but I shall conclude with the general one that the colors of all natural bodies have no other origin than this, that they are variously qualified to reflect one sort And this I of light in greater plenty than another. have experimented in a dark room by illuminating those bodies with uncompounded light of divers colors. For by that means any body may be made to appear of any color. They have there no appropriate color, but ever appear of the color of the light cast upon them, but yet with this difference, that they are
most brisk and vivid
in the light of their
own
daylight
233
color.
Minium appeareth
there of any color indif-
which 'tis illustrated, but yet most luminous in red; and so Bise appeareth indifferently of any color with which 'tis illustrated, but yet most luminous in blue. And therefore Minium reflecteth rays of any color, but most copiously those indued with red; and consequently, when illustrated with daylight that is, with all sorts of rays promiscuously blended those qualified with red shall abound most
ferently with
in the reflected light,

it
and by
their prevalence cause

for the
to appear of that color.

excess of those rays in
And
same
;
reason,
Bise, reflecting blue
most copiously,
shall
appear blue
by the
its reflected light

is
and the
like of other bodies.
And
that this
the entire and
adequate cause of their colors is manifest, because they have no power to change or alter the colors of any sort of rays incident apart, but put on all colors in^ differently with which they are enlightened." This epoch-making paper aroused a storm of opposition. Some of Newton's opponents criticised his methods, others even doubted the truth of his experiments. There was one slight mistake in Newton's belief that all prisms would give a spectrum of exactly the same length, and it was some time before he corrected this error. Meanwhile he patiently met and answered the arguments of his opponents until he began to feel that patience was no longer a virtue. At one time he even went so far as to declare that, once he was "free of this business," he would renounce
a public way. Fortunately for the world, however, he did not adhere
scientific research forever, at least in
to this determination, but went on to even greater
234

discoveries
which,
it
may be
added, involved
still
greater controversies.
In commenting on Newton's discovery of the composition of light, Voltaire said: "Sir Isaac
Newton has
demonstrated to the eye, by the bare assistance of a is a composition of colored rays, which, being united, form white color. A single ray is by him divided into seven, which all fall upon a piece of linen or a sheet of white paper, in their order one above
prism, that light
the other, and at equal distances. The first is red, the second orange, the third yellow, the fourth green, the fifth blue, the sixth indigo, the seventh a violet purple. Each of these rays transmitted afterwards by a hundred other prisms will never change the color it bears in like manner as gold, when completely purged from its dross, will never change afterwards in the crucible." '
XII
WE
its
come now
to the story of
what
is
by common
consent the greatest of scientific achievements.

of universal gravitation
is
The law
the most far-reachIt has application
ing principle as yet discovered.
equally to the minutest particle of matter and to the
most distant suns

:
in the universe, yet
it is
amazing
in
very simplicity. As usually phrased, the law is this That every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that varies directly with the mass of the particles and inversely as the squares of their mutual distance. Newton did not vault at once to the full expression of this law, though he had formulated it fully before he gave the results of his investigations to the world. We have now to follow the steps by which he reached this culminating
achievement. At the very beginning
we must understand
that the
idea of universal gravitation was not absolutely original
with Newton. Away back in the old Greek days, as we have seen, Anaxagoras conceived and clearly expressed the idea that the force which holds the heavenly bodies in their orbits may be the same that operates
upon substances at the surface of the earth. With Anaxagoras this was scarcely more than a guess. After his day the idea seems not to have been expressed by
236

any one
until the seventeenth century's
awakening
Third
of science.
Then the consideration
of Kepler's
Law of planetary motion suggested to many minds perhaps independently the probability that the force hitherto mentioned merely as centripetal, through the
operation of which the planets are held in their orbits,
is
tance from the sun.
a force varying inversely as the square of the disThis idea had come to Robert Hooke, to Wren, and perhaps to Halley, as well as to
no one had conceived a method by which the validity of the suggestion might be tested. It was claimed later on by Hooke that he had discov;
Newton but
as yet
method demonstrating the truth of the theory and after the full announcement of Newton's discovery a heated controversy was precipitated in which Hooke put forward his claims with
ered a
of inverse squares,
accustomed acrimony. Hooke, however, never produced his demonstration, and it may well be doubted whether he had found a method which did more than vaguely suggest the law which the observations of Kepler had partially revealed. Newton's great merit lay not so much in conceiving the law of inverse squares as in the demonstration of the law. He was led to this demonstration through considering the According to the familiar orbital motion of the moon. story, which has become one of the classic myths of science, Newton was led to take up the problem through observing the fall of an apple. Voltaire is responsible for the story, which serves as well as another; its truth or falsity need not in the least concern us. Suffice it that through pondering on the familiar fact of
terrestrial gravitation,
Newton was
237
led to question

this force which operates so tangibly here at the earth's surface may not extend its influence out into the depths of space, so as to include, for example,
whether
Obviously some force pulls the moon constantly towards the earth; otherwise that body would May not this fly off at a tangent and never return. so-called centripetal force be identical with terrestrial Such was Newton's query. Probably gravitation? many another man since Anaxagoras had asked the
the moon.
Newton was the first man an answer. The thought that suggested itself to Newton's mind was this If we make a diagram illustrating the orbital course of the moon for any given period, say one
same
question, but assuredly
to find
minute,
we
shall find that the course of the
moon
de-
parts from a straight line during that period
by a
measurable distance that is to say, the moon has been virtually pulled towards the earth by an amount that is represented by the difference between its actual position at the end of the minute under observation and the position it would occupy had its course been tangential, as, according to the first law of motion, it must have been had not some force deflected it towards the earth. Measuring the deflection in question which is equivalent to the so-called versed sine of we have a basis for determining the arc traversed
the strength of the deflecting force.

of the
structed such a diagram, and, measuring the
Newton conamount
moon's departure from a tangential rectilinear course in one minute, determined this to be, by his
calculation, thirteen feet.
Obviously, then, the force
acting
upon the moon
is
one that would cause that
238
DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE NEWTON
LAW OF GRAVITATION
(E represents the earth and A the moon. Were the earth's pull on the moon to cease, the moon's inertia would cause it to take the tangential course, AB. On the other hand, were the moon's motion to be stopped for an instant, the moon would The moon's actual orbit, resultfall directly towards the earth, along the line AD. Let AC represent the actual flight of the ing from these component forces, is AC. moon in one minute. Then BC, which is obviously equal to AD, represents the distance which the moon virtually falls towards the earth in one minute. Actual computation, based on measurements of the moon's orbit, showed this distance to be about fifteen feet. Another computation showed that this is the distance that the moon would fall towards the earth under the influence of gravity, on the supposition that the force of gravity decreases inversely with the square of the distance; the basis of comparison being furnished by falling bodies at the surface of the earth. Theory and observations thus coinciding, Newton was justified in declaring that the force that pulls the moon towards the earth and keeps it in its orbit, is the familiar force of gravity, and that this varies inversely as the square of the distance.)

body
to fall towards the earth to the distance of thirfirst
teen feet in the
minute
of its fall.
Would such
be the force of gravitation acting at the distance of the
moon
if
the power of gravitation varies inversely as
That was the tangible form in which the problem presented itself to Newton. The mathematical solution of the problem was simple enough. It is based on a comparison of the moon's On distance with the length of the earth's radius. making this calculation, Newton found that the pull of gravitation if that were really the force that controls
the square of the distance?
the
moon gives
that body a
fall
of slightly over
feet.
fifteen feet in the first
minute, instead of thirteen
Here was surely a suggestive approximation, yet, on the other hand, the discrepancy seemed to be too great to warrant him in the supposition that he had found the true solution. He therefore dismissed the matter from his mind for the time being, nor did he return to it definitely for some years. It was to appear in due time that Newton's hypothesis was perfectly valid and that his method of attempted demonstration was equally so. The difficulty was that the earth's proper dimensions were not at that time known. A wrong estimate of the
earth's size vitiated all the other calculations involved,
since the
measurement
of the
moon's distance depends
upon the observation of the parallax, which cannot

lead to a correct computation unless the length of the
Newton's first and it was not until 1682 that his attention was called to a new and apparently accurate measurement of a degree of the
earth's radius
is
accurately known.
calculation
was made
as early as 1666,
239
earth's meridian
Picard.
astronomer The new measurement made a degree of the
made by
the French
earth's surface 69.10 miles, instead of sixty miles.
Learning of this materially altered calculation as to size, Newton -was led to take up again his problem of the falling moon. As he proceeded with his computation, it became more and more certain that this time the result wâs to harmonize with the observed facts. As the story goes, he was so completely overwhelmed with emotion that he was forced to ask a friend to complete the simple calculation. That story may well be true, for, simple though the computation was, its result was perhaps the most wonderful demonstration hitherto achieved in the entire
the earth's
field of science.
Now
at last
it
was known that the
force of gravitation operates at the distance of the
moon, and holds that body in its elliptical orbit, and it required but a slight effort of the imagination to assume that the force which operates through such a reach of space extends its influence yet more widely. That such is really the case was demonstrated presently through calculations as to the moons of Jupiter and by
similar computations regarding the orbital motions of
the various planets.

is
All results harmonizing,
Newton
was justified in reaching the conclusion that gravitation

a universal property of matter.
It remained, as
we
shall see, for nineteenth-century scientists to
prove
that the same force actually operates upon the stars, though it should be added that this demonstration
merely
fortified
a belief that had already found

discovery,
full
acceptance.
Having thus epitomized Newton's

240
we

must now take up the steps of his progress somewhat in detail, and state his theories and their demonstration
in his
"
own
words.
is
Proposition IV., theorem
4, of his
Principia
as follows:
That
the
moon
gravitates towards the earth,
and by
of gravity is continually drawn off from a rectilinear motion and retained in its orbit.
the force
The mean distance of the moon from the earth, in the syzygies in semi-diameters of the earth, is, according to Ptolemy and most astronomers, 59; according
"
and Huygens, 60 to Copernicus, 6o|- to But Tycho, and all Street, 6o|; and to Tycho, sîthat follow his tables of refractions, making the refractions of the sun and moon (altogether against the
to Vendelin
;
;
nature of light) to exceed the refractions of the fixed stars, and that by four or five minutes near the horizon, did thereby increase the moon's horizontal parallax by a like number of minutes, that is, by a twelfth or
fifteenth part
of the
whole parallax.
will
Correct this
become aboiit 6o| semidiameters of the earth, near to what others have Let us assume the mean distance of 60 assigned. diameters in the syzygies and suppose one revolution of the moon, in respect to the fixed stars, to be comerror
and the distance
pleted in
2 yd. yh. 43',
as astronomers have determined;

of the earth to
and the circumference
amount
to
123,249,600 Paris feet, as the French have found by mensuration. And now, if we imagine the moon, deprived of all motion, to be let go, so as to descend towards the earth with the impulse of all that force
by which (by
it will
Cor. Prop,
iii.)
it is
retained in
its orb,
in the space of one
minute of time describe in
241
153^ Paris feet. For the versed sine of that arc which the moon, in the space of one minute of time, would by its mean motion describe at the distance of
its fall
sixty semi-diameters of the earth,

feet,
is
nearly i5yV Paris

i
or more accurately 15 feet,
inch,
line f.
Where-
fore, since that force, in approaching the earth, increases
in the reciprocal-duplicate proportion of the distance,
and upon that account, at the surface of the earth, is 60 X 60 times greater than at the moon, a body in our
ought in the space of one minute of time to describe 60 x 60 x i^^ Paris feet and in the space of one second of time, to describe
regions, falling with that force,
;
15^^ of those
I
feet,
or
more
this
accurately, 15 feet,
inch,
very force we actually find that bodies here upon earth do really descend; for a pendulum oscillating seconds in the latitude of
line f.
And with
Paris will be 3 Paris feet,
and
8 lines | in length, as
Mr. Huygens has obsei^ved.
And
the space which a
heavy body describes by

is
falling in
one second of time

in the duplicate
to half the length of the
pendulum
ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter

(as Mr.
Huygens has
i
also shown),
line f
.
and
is
therefore 15
Paris feet,
inch,
And
therefore the force
by which the moon is retained in its orbit is same force which we commonly call gravity
that very
;
for,
were
gravity another force different from that, then bodies
descending to the earth with the joint impulse of both forces would fall with a double velocity, and in the space of one second of time would describe 30^ Paris
feet; altogether against experience."
*
All this
is
beautifully clear,
and
its
validity has never

it
in recent generations
been called in question; yet

242

the argument does not an actually indisputable demonstration. It is at least possible that the coincidence between the observed and computed motion of the moon may be a mere coincidence and nothing more. This probability, however, is so remote that Newton is fully justified in disregarding it, and, as has been said, all subsequent generations have accepted the computation as demon-
should be
explained
that
amount
to
strative.
Let us produce
now Newton's
is
further computations
as to the other planetary bodies, passing on to his final
conclusion that gravity
a universal force:
v.,
"proposition
'
'
theorem
v.
That the circumjovial planets gravitate towards Jupiter

off
the circumsaturnal towards Saturn; the circumsolar tow-
ards the sun; and by the forces of their gravity are drawn
from rectilinear motions, and retained in curvilinear orbits.
For the revolutions of the circumjovial planets about Jupiter, of the circumsaturnal about Saturn, and of Mercury and Venus and the other circumsolar planets about the sun, are appearances of the same sort with the revolution of the moon about the earth; and therefore, by Rule ii., must be owing to the same sort of causes; especialty since it has been demonstrated that the forces upon which those revolutions depend tend to the centres of Jupiter, of Saturn, and of the sun and that those forces, in receding from Jupiter, from Saturn, and from the sun, decrease in the same proportion, and according to the same law, as the force of gravity does in receding from the earth.
;
"
243
"Cor.
cury,
I.
There
all
is,
therefore, a
;
power
of gravity
tending to
the planets
for doubtless Venus, Mer-
and the rest are bodies of the same sort with Jupiter and Saturn. And since all attraction (by
Law iii.) is mutual, Jupiter will therefore gravitate towards all his own satellites, Saturn towards his, the earth towards the moon, and the sun towards all the primary planets. "Cor. 2. The force of gravity which tends to any one planet is reciprocally as the square of the distance of places from the planet's centre. "Cor. 3. All the planets do mutually gravitate towards one another, by Cor. i and 2, and hence it is
that Jupiter and Saturn,
when near
their conjunction,
by
mutual attractions sensibly disturb each other's motions. So the sun disturbs the motions of the moon; and both sun and moon disturb our sea,
their
as
we
shall hereafter explain.
"SCHOLIUM
"
The
force which retains the celestial bodies in their
orbits has
it
been hitherto called centripetal force; but being now made plain that it can be no other than a
gravitating force,
we
shall hereafter call it gravity.
For the cause
of the centripetal force
which retains the
moon in
Rules
i.,
its
orbit will extend itself to all the planets
by
ii.,
and
iii.
"PROPOSITION
VI.,
THEOREM
any
VI.
"That
all bodies gravitate
towards every planet; and

the
that the weights of the bodies towards at equal distances
same
planet,
from
the centre of the planet, are -Oro-
244

portional
contain.
to the
quantities of matter which they severally
"It has been

that
all sorts of
now
a long time observed
by
others
for the inability of retardation
heavy bodies (allowance being made which they suffer from

descend to the
;
a small power of resistance in the air) earth from equal heights in equal times ity of times we may distinguish to a by help of pendulums. I tried the
silver,
and that equalgreat accuracy
thing in gold,
lead, glass, sand,

I
and wheat.
equal:
I filled
wood, water, provided two wooden boxes, round and the one with wood, and suspended an
salt,
common
equal weight of gold (as exactly as

of oscillation of the other.
could) in the centre
The boxes hanging by
eleven feet,
in weight
made
a couple of pendulums exactly equal
and equally receiving the resistance of the air. And, placing the one by the other, I observed them to play together forward and backward, for a long time, with equal vibrations. And therefore the quantity of matter in gold Vvâs to the quantity of matter in the wood as the action of the motive force (or vis motrix) upon all the gold to the action of the same upon all the wood that is, as the weight of the one to the weight of the other: and the
figure,
and
like happened in the other bodies. By these experiments, in bodies of the same weight, I could manifestly have discovered a difference of matter less than the thousandth part of the whole, had any such been. But,
without
planets
all
is
doubt, the nature of gravity towards the

For, should
the same as towards the earth.
we imagine our terrestrial

VOL. II. 17
bodies removed to the orb of

245
the moon, and there, together with the moon, deprived
of all motion, to
be
let go, so as to fall
together towards
what we have demonstrated before, that, in equal times, they would describe equal spaces with the moon, and of consequence are to the moon, in quantity and matter, as their weights to its
the earth, it
is
certain, from
weight.
perform which observe the sesquiplicate proportion of their distances from Jupiter's centre, their accelerative gravities towards Jupiter will be reciprocally as the square of their distances from Jupithat is, equal, at equal distances. And, ter's centre
their revolutions in times
" Moreover, since the satellites of Jupiter
therefore, these satellites,
if
supposed to
fall
towards
from equal heights, would describe equal spaces in equal times, in like manner as heavy And, by the same argubodies do on our earth. ment, if the circumsolar planets were supposed to be let fall at equal distances from the sun, they would, in their descent towards the sun, describe equal spaces in equal times. But forces which equally accelerate unequal bodies must be as those bodies that is to say, the weights of the planets towards the sun must be as their quantities of matter. Further, that the weights of Jtipiter and his satellites towards the
Jupiter
sun are proportional to the several quantities of their

matter, appears from the exceedingly regular motions of the satellites. For if some of these bodies were
more strongly attracted
to the sun in proportion to
their quantity of matter than others, the motions of
the satellites would be disturbed

of attraction.
If at
by that inequality equal distances from the sun

246

any
satellite,
in
proportion to the quantity of
its
matter, did gravitate towards the sun with a force

greater than Jupiter in proportion to his, according to
any given proportion, suppose dtoe; then the distance between the centres of the sun and of the satellite's orbit would be always greater than the distance between the centres of the sun and of Jupiter nearly in the subduplicate of that proportion as by some com:
I have found. And if the satellite did gravtowards the sun with a force, lesser in the proportion of e to d, the distance of the centre of the satellite's orb from the sun would be less than the distance of the centre of Jupiter from the sun in the subduplicate of the same proportion. Therefore, if at equal dis-
putations
itate
tances from the sun, the accelerative gravity of any
towards the sun were greater or less than the accelerative gravity of Jupiter towards the sun by oneone-thousandth part of the whole gravity, the distance of the centre of the satellite's orbit from the sun would be greater or less than the distance of Jupiter from the sun by one one-two-thousandth part of the whole distance that is, by a fifth part of the distance of the utmost satellite from the centre of Jupiter an eccentricity of the orbit which would be very sensisatellite
But the orbits of the satellites are concentric to and therefore the accelerative gravities of Jupiter and of all its satellites towards the sun, at equal
ble.
Jupiter,
distances from the sun, are as their several quantities
and the weights of the moon and of the earth towards the sun are either none, or accurately
of matter;
proportional to the masses of matter which they contain.
247
"Cor, 5. The power of gravity is of a different nature from the power of magnetism; for the magSome netic attraction is not as the matter attracted. the magnet; more by others attracted less; bodies are
most bodies not at all. The power of magnetism in one and the same body may be increased and diminished; and is sometimes far stronger, for the quantity of matter, than the power of gravity; and in receding from the magnet decreases not in the duplicate, but almost in the triplicate proportion of the distance, as nearly as I could judge from some rude
observations.
"proposition
"
VII.,
THEOREM
VII.
That
there is
a power
of gravity tending to all bodies,
proportional
contain.
to the several quantities of
matter which they
That all the planets mutually gravitate one towards we have proved before; as well as that the force of gravity towards every one of them considered
another
apart,
is
"
reciprocally as the square of the distance of
places from the centre of the planet.

follows,
that the
is
planets
contain.
"
And thence it towards all the proportional to the matter which they
gravity tending
all
Moreover, since
the parts of any planet
A grav-
itates
towards any other planet
B and
;
the gravity of
every part is to the gravity of the whole as the matter of the part is to the matter of the whole and to every action corresponds a reaction; therefore the planet B will, on the other hand, gravitate towards all the
;
348

parts of planet A, and
gravity towards any one part will be to the gravity towards the whole as
its
the matter of the part to the matter of the whole.
Q.E.D.
"Hence it would appear that the force of the whole must arise from the force of the component parts."
Newton
closes this
remarkable Book
iii.
with the
following words:
we have explained the phenomena of the heavens and of our sea by the power of gravity, but have not yet assigned the cause of this power. This is certain, that it must proceed from a cause that penetrates to the very centre of the sun and planets, without stiffering the least diminution of its force that operates not according to the quantity of the surfaces of the particles upon which it acts (as mechanical causes used to do), but according to the quantity of solid matter which they contain, and propagates its
;
" Hitherto
virtue
on
all sides
to
immense
distances, decreasing
always in the duplicate proportions of the distances. Gravitation towards the sun is made up out of the gravitations towards the several particles of which the body of the sun is composed and in receding from the sun decreases accurately in the duplicate proportion
;
of the distances as far as the orb of Saturn, as evidently appears from the quiescence of the aphelions of the planets nay, and even to the remotest aphelions of the comets, if those aphelions are also quiescent. But
;
hitherto I have not been able to discover the cause of
those properties of gravity from phenomena, and
249
frame no hypothesis for whatever is not deduced from phenomena is to be called an hypothesis; and hypotheses, whether metaphysical or physical, whether of occult qualities or mechanical, have no place in experimental philosophy. And to us it is enough
;
the
that gravity does really exist, and act according to the
laws which
we have
all
^
explained,
and abundantly serves
to account for
the motions of the celestial bodies
and
of
our sea."
importance of the theory of universal gravitation made its general acceptance a matter of considerable time after the actual discovery. This opposition had of course been foreseen by Newton, and, much as he dreaded controversy, he was prepared to face it and combat it to the bitter end. He knew that his theory was right it remained for him to convince the world of its truth. He knew that some of his contemporary philosophers would
of the
;
The very magnitude
it at once; others would at first doubt, question, and dispute, but finally accept; while still others would doubt and dispute until the end of their days. This had been the history of other great discoveries; and this will probably be the history of most great discoveries for all time. But in this case the discoverer lived to see his theory accepted by practically all the great minds of his time. Delambre is authority for the following estimate of Newton by Lagrange. "The celebrated Lagrange," he says, "who frequently asserted that Newton was the greatest genius that ever existed, used to add and the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once
accept
'
250

With pardonable a system of the world to establish.' exaggeration the admiring followers of the great generalizer pronoimced this epitaph
' '
"Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night; God said 'Let Newton be and all was light."
!'
XIII
INSTRUMENTS OF PRECISION
IN
THE AGE OF
NEWTON
DURING the Newtonian epoch there were numerous

important inventions of
well as
scientific instrinnents, as
many improvements made upon
the older ones.
Some
of these discoveries
ly in other places,
have been referred to briefbut their importance in promoting

warrants a fuller treatment of
scientific investigation
some
tific
of the
more
significant.
Many of
the errors that had arisen in various scien-
calculations before the seventeenth century
may
be ascribed to the crudeness and inaccurac}'- in the construction of most scientific instruments. Scientists had not as yet learned that an approach to absolute accuracy was necessary in every investigation in the field of science, and that such accuracy must be extended to the construction of the instruments used in In astronomy these investigations and observations.
it is
obvious that instruments of delicate exactness are

essential; yet
most
Tycho Brahe, who
lived in the
sixteenth century, is credited with being the first astronomer whose instruments show extreme care in
construction.
seems practically settled that the first telescope was invented in Holland in 1608; but three men,
It
Hans Lippershey, James
Metius,
and Zacharias Jansen,
252
have been given the credit of the invention at difIt would seem from certain papers, now ferent times.
in the library of the University of
Ley den, and
in-
cluded in Huygens's papers, that Lippershey was probably the first to invent a telescope and to describe The story is told that Lippershey, who his invention.
was a spectacle-maker, stumbled by accident upon the discovery that when two lenses are held at a certain
distance apart, objects at a distance appear nearer
and two
larger.
Having made
this discovery,
he fitted
lenses with a tube so as to maintain
them
at
the proper distance, and thus constructed the

telescope.
It
first
was
Galileo, however, as referred to in a preced-
who first constructed a telescope based on knowledge of the laws of refraction. In 1609, having heard that an instrument had been invented, consisting of two lenses fixed in a tube, whereby objects were made to appear larger and nearer, he set about constructing such an instrument that should follow out the known efEects of refraction. His first telescope, made of two lenses fixed in a lead pipe, was soon followed by others of improved types, Galileo devoting much time and labor to perfecting lenses and correcting errors. In fact, his work in developing the instrument was so important that the telescope came gradually to be known as the " Galilean
ing chapter,
his
telescope."
In the construction of his telescope Galileo
made
use of a convex and a concave lens; but shortly after this Kepler invented an instrument in which both the lenses used were convex. This telescope gave a
253
much
larger field of view than the Galilean telescope,
but did not give as clear an image, and in consequence did not come into general use until the middle of the
The first powerful telescope of was made by Huygens and his brother. It this type was of twelve feet focal length, and enabled Huygens to discover a new satellite of Saturn, and to determine
seventeenth century.
also the true explanation of vSaturn's ring.
It
was
Huygens,
first
together
with
Malvasia
and
the
Auzout,
who
applied
the micrometer to
micrometer was William Gascoigne, of Yorkshire, about 1636. The micrometer as used in telescopes enables the observer to measure accurately small angular disBefore the invention of the telescope such tances. measurements were limited to the angle that could be distinguished by the naked eye, and were, of course, only approximately accurate. Even very careful observers, such as Tycho Brahe, were able to obtain only But by applying Gascoigne's fairly accurate results. invention to the telescope almost absolute accuracy became at once possible. The principle of Gascoigne's micrometer was that of two pointers lying parallel, and in this position pointing to zero. These were arranged so that the turning of a single screw separated or approximated them at will, and the angle thus formed could be determined with absolute accuracy. Huygens 's micrometer was a slip of metal of variable breadth inserted at the focus of the telescope. By observing at what point this exactly covered an object under examination, and knowing the focal length of the telescope and the width of the metal, he could
telescope, although the inventor of the first
254
then deduce the apparent angular breadth of the object. Huygens discovered also that an object placed in the common focus of the two lenses of a Kepler telescope appears distinct and clearly defined. The micrometers
of Malvasia,
and
later of
Auzout and Picard, are the
development of this discovery. Malvasia' s raicrometer, which he described in 1662, consisted of fine silver
wires placed at right-angles at the focus of his telescope.
As
telescopes increased in power, however,
it
was
found that even the
much
came
were too thick for astronomical observations, as they

finest wire, or silk filaments,
obliterated the image,

into use
and
so, finally,
the spider-web
and
is still
other similar instruments.
used in micrometers and Before that time, however,
the fine crossed wires had revolutionized astronomical " We may judge how great was the imobservations.
provement which these contrivances introduced into

the art of observing," says Whev/ell, "by finding that Hevelius refused to adopt them because they would
make
all
the old observations of no value.
He had
old methods, treasures
spent a laborious and active life in the exercise of the and could not bear to think that all the
which he had accumulated had lost their ^ worth by the discovery of a new mine of richer ones." Until the time of Newton, all the telescopes in use were either of the Galilean or Keplerian type, that is, But about the year 1670 Newton conrefractors. structed his first reflecting telescope, which was greatly superior to, although
scopes then in use.

his experiments
much smaller than, the teleHe was led to this invention by

colors.
with light and

255
In 1671 he
presented to the Royal Society a second and some-
what
larger telescope,
type of
which he had made; and this instrument was little improved upon until the
introduction of the achromatic telescope, invented
by
Chester Moor Hall in 1733. As is generally known,
the element of accurate
measurements of time plays an important part in the measurements of the movements of the heavenly bodies. In fact, one was scarcely possible without the other, and as it happened it was the same man, Huygens, who perfected Kepler's telescope and invented the pendulum clock. The general idea had been suggested by
Galileo or, better perhaps, the equal time occupied
;
by
the successive oscillations of the pendulum had been noted by him. He had not been able, however, to put this discovery to practical account. But in 1656 Huygens invented the necessary machinery for maintaining the motion of the pendulum and perfected several accurate clocks. These clocks were of invaluable assistance to the astronomers, affording as they did a means of keeping time "more accurate
than the sun
itself."
When
Picard had corrected the
by heat and cold acting upon the pendulum rod by combining metals of different devariation caused
grees of expansibility, a high degree of accuracy
possible.
was
But while the pendulum clock was an unequalled it was useless in such unstable situations as, for example, on shipboard. But here again Huygens played a prominent part by first applying the coiled balance-spring for regulating watches and marine clocks. The idea of applying a spring to the
stationary time-piece,
256
balance-wheel was not original with Huygens, however, as it had been first conceived by Robert Hooke
but Huygens's application made practical Hooke's In England the importance of securing accurate idea. watches or marine clocks was so fully appreciated that a reward of ;^2o,ooo sterling was offered by Parliament as a stimulus to the inventor of such a timepiece. The immediate incentive for this offer was the obvious fact that with such an instrument the determination of the longitude of places would be much Encouraged by these offers, a certain carsimplified.
penter
in 1758
named Harrison turned
his attention to the
subject of watch-making, and, after
many years of labor,
produced a spring time-keeper which, during a sea- voyage occupying one hundred and sixty-one days, varied only one minute and five seconds. This gained for Harrison a reward of ;i^5ooo sterling at once, and a little later ;î 0,000 more, from Parliament. While inventors were busy with the problem of accurate chronometers, however, another instrument This for taking longitude at sea had been invented.
was the reflecting quadrant, or sextant, as the improved instrument is now called, invented by John Hadley in 1731, and independently by Thomas Goda poor glazier of Philadelphia, in 1730. Godfrey's was constructed on the same principle Hadley instrument, was not generally of the as that recognized until two years after Hadley' s discovery,
frey,
invention, which
although the instrument was finished and actually in use on a sea-voyage some months before Hadley reported his invention. The principle of the sextant, however, seems to have been known to Newton, who
257
constructed
an instrument not very unlike that of

this invention
Hadley; but
was
lost
sight
of
until
several years after the philosopher's death
and some
time after Hadley' s invention.
The introduction of the sextant greatly simplified taking reckonings at sea as well as facilitating taking the correct longitude of distant places. Before that
time the mariner was obliged to depend upon his compass, a cross-staff, or an astrolabe, a table of the sun's
and a correction for the altitude of the poleand very inadequate and incorrect charts. Such were the instruments used by Columbus and Vasco da Gama and their immediate successors. During the Newtonian period the microscopes generally in use were those constructed of simple lenses, for although compound microscopes were known, the difficulties of correcting aberration had not been surmounted, and a much clearer field was given by the simple instrument. The results obtained by the use of
declination
star,
such instruments, however, were very satisfactory in
many ways.
By referring
to certain plates in this vol-
ume, which reproduce illustrations from Robert Hooke's work on the microscope, it will be seen that quite a high degree of effectiveness had been attained. And it should be recalled that Antony von Leeuwenhoek, whose death took place shortly before Newton's, had discovered such micro - organisms as bacteria, had seen the blood corpuscles in circulation, and examined and
described other microscopic structures of the body.
XIV
PROGRESS
ELECTRICITY FROM GILBERT AND VON GUERICKE TO FRANKLIN
IN
have seen how Gilbert, by his experiments with magnets, gave an impetus to the study of magnetism and electricity. Gilbert himself demonstrated some facts and advanced some theories, but the system of general laws was to come later. To this end the discovery of electrical repulsion, as well as attraction, by Von Guericke, with his sulphur ball, was a step forward; but something like a century passed after Gilbert's beginning before anything of much importance was done in the field of electricity. In 1705, however, Francis Hauksbee began a series of experiments that resulted in some startling demonstrations. For many years it had been observed that a peculiar light was seen sometimes in the mercurial barometer, but Hauksbee and the other scientific investigators supposed the radiance to be due to the mercury in a vacuum, brought about, perhaps, by That this light might have any some agitation. connection with electricity did not, at first, occur to Hauksbee any more than it had to his predecessors. The problem that interested him was whether the vacuum in the tube of the barometer was essential to the light; and in experimenting to determine this, he invented his "mercurial fountain." Having exhausted
259
WE
the air in a receiver containing some mercury, he found that by allowing air to rush through the mercury the
metal became a
thrown in all directions against the making a great, flaming shower, But it seemed "like flashes of lightning," as he said. to him that there was a difference between this light and the glow noted in the barometer. This was a bright light, whereas the barometer light was only a glow. Pondering over this, Hauksbee tried various experiments, revolving pieces of amber, flint, steel, and
jet
sides of the vessel,
other substances in his exhausted air-pump receiver, with negative, or unsatisfactory, results. Finally, it occurred to him to revolve an exhausted glass tube Mounting such a globe of glass on an axis so itself. that it could be revolved rapidly by a belt running on a large wheel, he found that by holding his fingers against the whirling globe a purplish glow appeared, giving sufficient light so that coarse print could be read, and the walls of a dark room sensibly lightened several feet away. As air Vvâs admitted to the globe the light gradually diminished, and it seemed to him that this diminished glow was very similar in appearance to the pale light seen in the mercurial barometer. Could it be that it was the glass, and not the mercury, that caused it ? Going to a barometer he proceeded to rub the glass above the column of mercury over the vacuum, without disturbing the mercury, when, to
his astonishment, the
same
faint light, to all appear-
ances identical with the glow seen in the whirling globe,
was produced.
Turning these demonstrations over in his mind, he recalled the well-known fact that rubbed glass attracted
260
PROGRESS
and that
this
IN
ELECTRICITY
light substances,
bits of paper, leaf-brass,
and other
phenomenon was supposed to be electrical. This led him finally to determine the hitherto unsuspected fact, that the glow in the barometer was electrical as was also the glow seen in his whirling
globe.
ered that solid glass rods
Continuing his investigations, he soon discovwhen rubbed produced the
same
effects as the tube.
By mere
chance, happening
to hold a rubbed tube to his cheek, he felt the effect of
upon the skin like " a number of fine, limber and this suggested to him that, since the mysterious manifestation was so plain, it could be made to show its effects upon various substances. Suspending some woollen threads over the whirling glass cylinder,
electricity
hairs,"
he found that as soon as he touched the glass with his hands the threads, which were waved about by the wind of the revolution, suddenly straightened themselves in a peculiar
sition,
manner, and stood in a radical po-
pointing to the axis of the cylinder.
Encouraged by these successes, he continued his experiments with breathless expectancy, and soon made another important discovery, that of "induction," although the real significance of this discovery was not appreciated by him or, for that matter, by any one This discovery else for several generations following. ^was made by placing two revolving cylinders within an inch of each other, one with the air exhausted and the other unexhausted. Placing his hand on the unexhausted tube caused the light to appear not only upon it, but on the other tube as well. A little later he discovered that it is not necessary to whirl the exhausted tube to produce this effect, but simply
VOL.
II.
18
261
to place
cylinder.
it
in close proximity to the other whirling
These demonstrations of Hauksbee attracted wide

attention and gave an impetus to investigators in the
field of electricity
;
but
still
no great advance was made

Possibly
for something like a quarter of a century.
the energies of the scientists were exhausted for the
moment
in exploring the
new
fields
investigation
by the
colossal
work
of
thrown open to Newton.
THE EXPERIMENTS OF STEPHEN GRAY

In 1729 Stephen Gray (died in 1736), an eccentric and irascible old pensioner of the Charter House in London, undertook some investigations along lines
While experimenting Hauksbee with had done, he noticed that the corks with which he had stopped the ends of the tube to exclude the dust, seemed to attract bits of paper and leaf -brass as well He surmised at once that this mysas the glass itself. terious electricity, or "virtue," as it was called, might be transmitted through other substances as it seemed to be through glass. " Having by me an ivory ball of about one and threetenths of an inch in diameter," he writes, "with a hole through it, this I fixed upon a fir-stick about four inches long, thrusting the other end into the cork, and upon rubbing the tube found that the ball attracted and repelled the feather with more vigor than the cork had done, repeating its attractions and repulsions for many times together. I then fixed the ball on longer sticks, first upon one of eight inches, and afterwards upon one
similar to those of Hauksbee.
a glass tube for producing electricity, as
262
PROGRESS
of
IN
ELECTRICITY
twenty -four inches
same.
to fix
long, and found the effect the use of iron, and then brass wire, the ball on, inserting the other end of the wire in
Then
made
the cork, as before, and found that the attraction was the same as
that
when
it
the fir-sticks were
made
use
of,
and
when
the feather was held over against any part
of the wire
was attracted by
its
then nearer the tube, yet strong as that of the ball.

three feet long was used,
its
rubbing of the tube, made it be managed. This put me to thinking whether, if the ball -was hung by a pack-thread and suspended by a loop on the tube, the electricity would not be carried down the line to the ball; I found it to succeed accordingly; for upon suspending the ball on the tube by a pack-thread about three feet long, when the tube had been excited by rubbing, the ivory ball attracted and repelled the leaf -brass over which it was held as freely as it had done when it was suspended on sticks or wire, as did also a ball of cork, and another of lead that weighed one pound and a quarter." Gray next attempted to determine what other bodies
but though it was was not so When the wire of two or vibrations, caused by the somewhat troublesome to
it;
attraction
and for this purpose he and even a tea-kettle, "both empty and filled with hot or cold water"; but he found that the attractive power appeared to be the same regardless of the substance used. "I next proceeded," he continues, "to try at what greater distances the electric virtues might be carried, and having by me a hollow walking-cane, which I suppose was part of a fishing-rod, two feet seven inches
bits of paper,
tried
coins,
would attract the
pieces of metal,
263
long, I cut the great
end of
it
to
fit
into the bore of the

;
tube, into which
it
went about
five inches
then when
this exthe cane drew the leaf -brass to the height of more than two inches, as did also the ivory ball, when by a cork and stick it had been fixed to the end of the
cited,
the cane was
put into the end of the tube,
and
cane.
With
several pieces of Spanish cane
and 'fir-
sticks I afterwards
made a
rod, which, together with
the tube, was somewhat more than eighteen feet long, which was the greatest length I could conveniently use in my chamber, and found the attraction very nearly, if not altogether, as strong as when the ball was placed on the shorter rods."
This experiment exhausted the capacity of his small room, but on going to the country a little later he was
able to continue his experiments.
"
To a
pole of eigh-
teen feet there
was
tied a line of thirty-four feet in
and line together were fiftytwo feet. With the pole and tube I stood in the balcony, the assistant below in the court, where he held the board with the leaf -brass on it. Then the tube being excited, as usual, the electric virtue passed from the tube up the pole and down the line to the ivory ball, which attracted the leaf-brass, and as the ball passed over it in its vibrations the leaf -brass would follow it till it was carried off the board." Gray next attempted to send the electricity over a line suspended horizontally. To do this he suspended the pack - thread by pieces of string looped over But when nails driven into beams for that purpose. thus suspended he found that the ivory ball no longer excited the leaf-brass, and he guessed correctly that
length, so that the pole
264
PROGRESS
IN
ELECTRICITY
the explanation of this lay in the fact that " when the electric virtue came to the loop that was suspended on the beam it went up the same to the beam," none of it
reaching the
ball.
As we
shall see
from what
follows,
however, Gray had not as yet determined that certain substances will conduct electricity while others will But by a lucky accident he made the discovery not. that silk, for example, was a poor conductor, and could be turned to account in insulating the conductingcord.
Mr. Wheler had become much interested in the old pensioner and his work, and, as a guest at the Wheler house, Gray had been repeating some of his former experiments with the fishing-rod, line, and ivory
A certain
ball.
exhausted the heights from which these experiments could be made by climbing to the clock-tower and exciting bits of leaf -brass on the ground
finally
He had
below.
"As we had no
greater heights here," he says, "Mr.
Wheler was desirous to try whether we could not carry

the electric virtue horizontally. the attempt
I
I
then told him of
had made with that design, but without success, telling him the method and materials made use of, as mentioned above. He then proposed a silk line to support the line by which the electric virtue was to pass. I told him it might do better upon account of its smallness; so that there would be less virtue carried from the line of communication. "The first experiment was made in the matted gallery, July 2, 1729, about ten in the morning. About four feet from the end of the gallery there was a cross line that was fixed by its ends to each side of the gallery
26s
the middle part of the line was silk, the end pack-thread; then the line to which the ivory ball was hung and by which the electric virtue was to be conveyed to it from the tube, being eighty and one-half feet in length, was laid on the cross silk line, so that the ball hung about nine feet below it. Then the other end of the line was by a loop suspended on the glass cane, and the leaf -brass held under the ball on a piece of white paper; when, the tube being rubbed, the ball attracted the leaf-brass, and kept it suspended on it for some time." This experiment succeeded so well that the string was lengthened until it was some two hundred and
nails
;
by two
rest at each
ninety-three feet long; and
still
the attractive force
continued, apparently as strong as ever.
On
length-
ening the string still more, however, the extra weight proved too much for the strength of the silk suspending-thread. " Upon this," says Gray, " having brought with me both brass and iron wire, instead of the silk we put up small iron wire; but this was too weak to bear the weight of the line. We then took brass wire This supof a somewhat larger size than that of iron. ported our line of communication but though the tube was well rubbed, yet there was not the least motion or attraction given by the ball, neither with the great tube, which we made use of when we found the small solid cane to be ineffectual by which we were now convinced that the success we had before depended upon the lines that supported the line of communication being silk, and not upon their being small, as before trial I had imagined it might be; the same effect happening here as it did when the line that is
; ;
266
PROGRESS
thread."
IN
ELECTRICITY
is
to convey the electric virtue
supported by pack-
Soon
across a
after this
Gray and
his host
suspended a pack-
thread six hundred and sixty-six feet long on poles

field,
these poles being slightly inclined so that
the thread could be suspended from the top

silk cords,
by small
thus securing the necessary insulation. This pack-thread line, suspended upon poles along which
Gray was able

gestive of the
nalling or
to transmit the electricity,
is
very sug-
modem
to
telegraph, but the idea of sigof
making use
way seems not

time.
it for communicating in any have occurred to any one at that
Even the successors of Gray who constructed lines some thousands of feet long made no attem.pt to use them for anything but experimental purposes
simply to test the distances that the current could be sent. Nevertheless, Gray should probably be credited with the discovery of two of the most important properties of electricity that it can be conducted and in-
sulated, although, as
we have
seen, Gilbert
and Von
Guericke had an inkling of both these properties.
EXPERIMENTS OF CISTERNAY DUFAY

So far England had produced the two foremost workers in electricity. It was now France's turn to take a hand, and, through the efforts of Charles Francois de Cisternay Dufay, to advance the science of electricity very materially. Dufay was a highly educated savant, who had been soldier and diplomat betimes, but whose versatility and ability as a scientist is shown by the fact that he was the only man who had
ever contributed to the annals of the academy inves267
tigations in every one of the six subjects admitted
that institution as worthy of recognition. held his reputation in this
new
field of
by Dufay upscience, making
many discoveries and correcting many mistakes of former observers. In this work also he proved himself a great diplomat by remaining on terms of intimate friendship with Dr. Gray a thing that few people were able to do. Almost his first step was to overthrow the belief that certain bodies are "electrics" and others "nonelectrics" that is, that some substances when rubbed show certain peculiarities in attracting pieces of paper and foil which others do not. Dufay proved that all
bodies possess this quality in a certain degree.

" I
fluid
have found that
all
bodies (metallic,
soft,
or
ones excepted)," he says,
"may
by first heating them more or less them on any sort of cloth. So that all kinds of stones, as well precious as common, all kinds of wood, and, in general, everything that I have made trial of, became electric by heating and rubbing, except such bodies as grow soft by heat, as the gums, which dissolve iti water,
glue,
be made electric and then rubbing
and such
like substances.
'Tis also to
be
re-
marked that the hardest stones or marbles require more chafing or heating than others, and that the same
rule obtains with
regard to the woods; so that box,
and such others must be chafed almost to fir, lime-tree, and cork require but a moderate heat. "Having read in one of Mr. Gray's letters that
lignum
vitcB,
the degree of browning, whereas
water
may
be made
electrical
by holding the
excited
glass tube near it (a dish of water being fixed to a
268
PROGRESS
IN
ELECTRICITY
stand and that set on a plate of glass, or on the brim of a drinking-glass, previously chafed, or otherwise warmed), I have found, upon trial, that the same thing happened to all bodies without exception, wheth-
and that for that purpose 'twas sufficient to set them on a glass stand slightly warmed, or only dried, and then by bringing the tube near them they immediately became electrical. I made this experiment with ice, with a lighted wood-coal, and with everything that came into my mind and I constantly remarked that such bodies of themselves as were least electrical had the greatest degree of electricity communicated to them at the approval of the glass
er solid or fluid,
;
tube."
His next important discovery was that colors had nothing to do with the conduction of electricity. "Mr. Gray says, towards the end of one of his letters," he writes, "that bodies attract more or less according to their colors. This led me to make several very singular experiments. I took nine silk ribbons of equal size, one white, one black, and the other seven of the seven primitive colors, and having hung them all in order in the same line, and then bringing the tube near them, the black one was first attracted, the white one
and others in order successively to the red one, which was attracted least, and the last of them all. I
next,
afterwards cut out nine square pieces of gauze of the
and having put them one on a hoop of wood, with leaf -gold under them, the leaf -gold was attracted through all the colored pieces of gauze, but not through the white or
colors with the ribbons,
after another
same
black.
This inclined
me
first
to think that colors con-
269
tribute much to electricity, but three experiments convinced me to the contrary. The first, that by warming the pieces of gauze neither the black nor white pieces obstructed the action of the electrical tube more than those of the other colors. In like manner, the ribbons being warmed, the black and white are not
more strongly attracted than the rest. The second is, the gauzes and ribbons being wetted, the ribbons are all attracted equally, and all the pieces of gauze equally intercept the action of electric bodies. The third is, that the colors of a prism being thrown on a white gauze, there appear no differences of attraction.
Whence
it
proceeds that this difference proceeds, not
from the color, as a color, but from the substances that For when I colored ribare employed in the dyeing. bons by rubbing them with charcoal, carmine, and such other substances, the differences no longer proved the same." In connection with his experiments with his thread suspended on glass poles, Dufay noted that a certain
amount
of the current
air.
is lost,
being given
off to
the sur-
rounding
He recommended,
it
therefore, that the
cords experimented with be wrapped with some non-
conductor as he said,
that
first
making use
should be "insulated" ("isolee"), of this term.

Electricity
Dufay Discovers Vitreous and Resinous

It has
been shown in an
earlier
chapter
how Von
Guericke discovered that light substances like feathers, after being attracted to the sulphur-ball electricmachine, were repelled by it until they touched some Von Guericke noted this, but failed to exobject.
270
PROGRESS
plain
it
IN
ELECTRICITY
Von
Guericke's
satisfactorily.
Dufay, repeating
experiments, found that if, while the excited tube or sulphur ball is driving the repelled feather before it, the ball be touched or rubbed anew, the feather comes
to
it
again,
and
is
repelled alternately, as the
hand
touches the ball, or is withdrawn. From this he concluded that electrified bodies first attract bodies not electrified, "charge" them with electricity, and then repel them, the body so charged not being attracted again until it has discharged its electricity by touching
something.
"On making
the experiment related

consists in
Guericke," he says, "which

I
by Otto von making a ball
of sulphur rendered electrical to repel a
down
feather,
perceived that the same effects were produced not only by the tube, but by all electric bodies whatsodiscovered that which accounts for a great part of the irregularities and, if I may use the term, of the caprices that seem to accompany most of the experiever,
and
ments on
electricity.
all
This principle
so,
is
that electric
repel
bodies attract
that are not
and
them
as
soon as they are become electric by the vicinity or contact of the electric body. Thus gold-leaf is first attracted by the tube, and acquires an electricity by approaching it, and of consequence is immediately repelled by it. Nor is it reattracted while it retains
But if while it is thus sustained in chance to light on some other body, it straightway loses its electricity, and in consequence is reattracted by the tube, which, after having given it a new electricity, repels it a second time, which continues Upon applyas long as the tube keeps its electricity.
its electric quality.
the air
it
271
ing this principle to the various experiments of elec-
be surprised at the number of obscure and puzzling facts that it clears up. For Mr. Hauksbee's famous experiment of the glass globe, in which silk threads are put, is a necessary consequence of it. When these threads are arranged in the form of rays
tricity,
one
will
by the
electricity of the sides of the globe,
if
the finger
be put near the outside of the globe the silk threads within fly from it, as is well known, which happens only because the finger or any other body applied near the glass globe is thereby rendered electrical, and consequently repels the silk threads which are endowed with the same quality. With a little reflection we may in the same manner account for most of the other phenomena, and which seem inexplicable without attending to this principle. "Chance has thrown in my way another principle, more universal and remarkable than the preceding one, and which throws a new light on the subject of elecThis principle is that there are two distinct tricity. electricities, very different from each other, one of which I call vitreous electricity and the other resinous
electricity.
The
first is
that of glass, rock-crystal, pre-
cious stones, hair of animals, wool, and

bodies.
many
other
The second
is
that of amber, copal,
gum-
and a number of other substances. The characteristic of these two electricities is that a body of the vitreous electricity, for example, repels all such as are of the same electricity, and on
sack, silk thread, paper,
the contrary attracts

ity; so that the tube,
all
those of the resinous electricelectrical, will repel glass,
made
crystal, hair of animals, etc.,
when rendered
electric,
272
PROGRESS
and
dered electrical
IN
ELECTRICITY
will attract silk thread, paper, etc.,
likewise.
will attract electric glass
though renAmber, on the contrary, and other substances of the
same
etc.
gum-sack, copal, silk thread, ribbons rendered electrical will repel each other two woollen threads will do the like but a woollen thread and a silken thread will mutually atclass,
and
silk
will repel
Two
tract each other.
This principle very naturally ex-
plains
why
the ends of threads of silk or wool recede
from each other, in the form of pencil or broom, when they have acquired an electric quality. From this principle one may with the same ease deduce the explanation of a great number of other phenomena and
;
it is
probable that this truth will lead us to the further
discovery of
classes of electrics belongs
to which of the two any body whatsoever, one need only render electric a silk thread, which is known to be of the resinuous electricity, and see whether that
" In order to
many other things. know immediately
body, rendered
attracts
it,
electrical, attracts or repels

is
it.
If it
it
certainly of the kind of electricity

if,
on the contrary, it repels it, it that is, is of the same kind of electricity with the silk I have likewise observed that comof the resinous. municated electricity retains the same properties for if a ball of ivory or wood be set on a glass stand, and this ball be rendered electric by the tube, it will repel such substances as the tube repels; but if it be rendered electric by applying a cylinder of gum-sack near it, it will produce quite contrary effects namely, precisely the same as gum-sack would produce. In order
which
I call vitreous;
to succeed in these experiments,
it is
requisite that the
273
two bodies which are put near each other, to find out the nature of their electricity, be rendered as electrical as possible, for if one of them was not at all or but weakly electrical, it would be attracted by the other, though it be of that sort that should naturally be repelled by it. But the experiment will always succeed perfectly well if both bodies are sufficiently
electrical."
^
As we now know, Dufay was wrong

vitreous and resinous.
in
supposing
that there were two different kinds of electricity,
A
' '
little later
' '
the matter was
explained by calling one

other " negative," and
particular substance.
ever, that
it
positive electricity and the was believed that certain sub-
stances produced only the one kind peculiar to that
We shall see presently, howsome twenty years later an English scientist dispelled this illusion by producing both positive (or vitreous) and negative (or resinous) electricity on the same tube of glass at the same time. After the death of Dufay his work was continued by his fellow - countryman Dr. Joseph Desaguliers, who was the first experimenter to electrify running water, and who was probably the first to suggest that But about this clouds might be electrified bodies.
time that is, just before the middle of the eighteenth century the field of greatest experimental activity was transferred to Germany, although both England
and France were

losophers
still
active.
The two German
phi-
who accomplished most
at this time were
Christian August Hansen and George Matthias Bose, both professors in Leipsic. Both seem to have con-
ceived the idea, simultaneously 9,nd independently, of
?74
PROGRESS
generating electricity
IN
ELECTRICITY
and wheel
in
by revolving globes run by belt much the same manner as the apparatus
of Hauksbee.
With such machines it was possible to generate a greater amount of electricity than Dufay had been able to do with the rubbed tube, and so equipped, the two German professors were able to generate elec-
much
sparks and jets of fire in a most startling manner. Bose in particular had a love for the spectacular, which he turned to account with his new electrical machine upon many occasions. On one of these occasions he prepared an elaborate dinner, to which a large number of distinguished guests were invited. Before the arrival of the company, however, Bose insulated the great banquet-table on cakes of pitch, and then connected it with a huge electrical machine concealed in another room. All being ready, and the guests in their places about to be seated, Bose gave a secret signal for starting this machine, when, to the astonishment of the party, flames of fire shot from flowers, dishes, and viands, giving a most startling but beautitric
ful display.
still further to the astonishment of his Bose then presented a beautiful young lady, to whom each of the young men of the party was in-
To
add,
guests,
troduced.
In some mysterious manner she was insulated and connected with the concealed electrical
machine, so that as each gallant touched her fingertips he received an electric shock that "made him reel." Not content with this, the host invited the young men to kiss the beautiful maid. But those who were bold enough to attempt it received an electric
275
shock that nearly "knocked their teeth out," as the
professor tells
it.
ludolff's experiment with the electric spark
But Bose was only one
of several
German
scientists
who were making
While Bose experimenting with constructing and his huge was machine, another German, Christian Friedrich Ludolif, demonstrated that electric sparks are actual fire a Ludolff's fact long suspected but hitherto unproved.
elaborate experiments.
discovery, as
it
chanced, was
made
in the lecture-hall
of the reorganized
Academy
of Sciences at Berlin,
before an audience of scientists and great personages,

at the opening lecture in 1744.
In the course of this lecture on electricity, during which some of the well-known manifestations of electricity were being shown, it occurred to Ludolff to attempt to ignite some inflammable fluid by projecting an electric spark upon its surface with a glass rod. This idea was suggested to him while performing the familiar experiment of producing a spark on the surface of a bowl of water by touching it with a charged glass rod. He announced to his audience the experiment he was about to attempt, and having warmed a spoonful of sulphuric ether, he touched its surface with the
glass rod, causing
it
to burst into flame.
This experi-
ment left no room for doubt that the electric spark was actual fire. As soon as this experiment of Ludolff's was made known to Bose, he immediately claimed that he had previously made similar demonstrations on various inflammable substances, both liquid and solid; and it
276
PROGRESS
IN
ELECTRICITY
seems highly probable that he had done so, as he was constantly experimenting with the sparks, and must almost certainly have set certain substances ablaze by At all events, he carried on accident, if not by intent. a series of experiments along this line to good purpose, finally succeeding in exploding gun-powder, and so
making the
first
forerunner of the electric fuses

It
now
so universally used in blasting, firing cannon,
and other
similar purposes.
was Bose
also
who, observing
some of the peculiar manifestations in electrified tubes,

and noticing their resemblance to "northern lights," was one of the first, if not the first, to suggest that the
aurora borealis
is
of electric origin.
These spectacular demonstrations
had the
effect of
is
calling public attention to the fact that electricity
most wonderful and mysterious thing, to say the least, and kept both scientists and laymen agog with expectancy, Bose himself was aflame with excitement, and so determined in his efforts to produce still
stronger electric currents, that he sacrificed the tube
of his twenty-foot telescope for the construction of
mammoth
ful
electrical
machine.
With
this
great
ma-
chine a discharge of electricity was generated power-
enough to wound the skin when

it.
it
happened to
strike
Until this time electricity had been little more than a plaything of the scientists or, at least, no practical use had been made of it. As it was a practising
physician, Gilbert,
who first laid the foundation for experimenting with the new substance, so again it was a medical man who first attempted to put it to practical use,
VOL.
II.
and that
in the field of his profession.

2
Gott-
rg
77
lieb
Kruger, a professor of medicine at Halle in 1743, suggested that electricity might be of use in some
;
branches of medicine and the year following Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein made a first experiment to determine the effects of electricity upon the body. He found that "the action of the heart was accelerated, the circulation increased, and that muscles were made
to contract
by the discharge": and he began

that
it
at once
administering electricity in the treatment of certain

diseases.
He found
acted beneficially in rheu-
matic affections, and that it was particularly useful in This was certain nervous diseases, such as palsies. over a century ago, and to-day about the most important use made of the particular kind of electricity
with which he experimented (the static, or frictional) is for the treatment of diseases affecting the nervous
system.
By
the middle of the century a perfect mania for

electrical
machines had spread over Europe, hand-rubbed globes were gradually replaced by great cylinders rubbed by woollen cloths or pads, and generating an "enormous power of electricity." These cylinders were run by belts and foottreadles, and gave a more powerful, constant, and satisfactory current than known heretofore. While making experiments with one of these machines, Johann Heinrichs Winkler attempted to measure the speed at which electricity travels. To do this he extended a cord suspended on silk threads, with the end attached to the machine and the end which was to attract the bits of gold - leaf near enough together so that the operator could watch and measure the in-
making and the
whirling,
278
PROGRESS
IN
ELECTRICITY
its
terval of time that elapsed between the starting of the
current along the cord and
attracting the gold-leaf.
The length of the cord used

a
little
in this
experiment was only

this was, of course,
over a hundred
feet,
and
entirely inadequate, the current travelling that space
apparently instantaneously.
The improved method
of
generating electricity
that had come into general use made several of the scientists again turn their attention more particularly to attempt putting
it
to
some
practical account.
by the constant reproaches that were beginning to be heard on all sides that electricity was merely a "philosopher's playOne of the first to succeed in inventing something."
They were stimulated
to these efforts
thing that approached a practical mechanical con-
was Andrew Gordon, a Scotch Benedictine monk. He invented an electric bell which would ring automatically, and a little "motor," if it may be so
trivance
called.
And
while neither of these inventions were of

an-
any
practical importance in themselves, they were atfirst
tempts in the right direction, and were the

cestors of
modern electric bells and motors, although the principle upon which they worked was entirely different from modern electrical machines. The motor was simply a wheel with several protruding
metal points around its rim. These points were arranged to receive an electrical discharge from a frictional machine, the discharge causing the wheel to rotate. There was very little force given to this rotation, however, not enough, in fact, to make it possible to more than barely turn the wheel itself. Two more great discoveries, galvanism and electro-magnetic
279
induction, were necessary before the practical
motor
became possible. The sober Gordon had a
taste for the spectacular

It
almost equal to that of Bose.
was he who ignited
a bowl of alcohol by turning a stream of electrified water upon it, thus presenting the seeming paradox Gordon also of fire produced by a stream of water. demonstrated the power of the electrical discharge by killing small birds and animals at a distance of two hundred ells, the electricity being conveyed that distance through small wires.
THE LEYDEN JAR DISCOVERED
As yet no one had discovered that electricity could be stored, or generated in any way other than by some But very soon two experimenters, friction device. Dean von Kleist, of Gamin, Pomerania, and Pieter van Musschenbroek, the famous teacher of Leyden, apparently independently, made the discovery of what has been known ever since as the Leyden jar. And
sometimes credited with being the discoverer, there can be no doubt that Von Kleist' s discovery antedated his by a few months at
although Musschenbroek
is
least.
of a narrowmercury, into necked bottle containing alcohol or which an iron nail was inserted, he was able to retain the charge of electricity, after electrifying this appa-
Von
Kleist found that
by a
device
made
ratus with the frictional machine.

similar device,
He made
also a
more closely resembling the modern Leyden jar, from a thermometer tube partly filled with With wâter and a wire tipped with a ball of lead.
280
PROGRESS
IN
ELECTRICITY
and could produce the
spirits,
these devices he found that he could retain the charge

of electricity for several hours,
usual electrical manifestations, even to igniting quite as well as with the frictional machine.
These
after
experiments were
first
made in
October,
745,
and
a month of further experimenting, Von Kleist sent the following account of them to several of the leading
scientists,
among
a
nail,
others. Dr. Lieberkiihn, in Berlin,
and Dr.
Kriiger, of Halle.
"When
or a piece of thick brass wire,
is
put
re-
into a small apothecary's phial and
electrified,
markable effects follow; but the phial must be very dry, or warm. I commonly rub it over beforehand with a finger on which I put some pounded chalk. If a little mercury or a few drops of spirit of wine be put As soon as into it, the experiment succeeds better. this phial and nail are removed from the electrifyingglass, or the prime conductor, to which it has been exposed, is taken away, it throws out a pencil of flame so long that, with this burning machine in my hand, I have taken above sixty steps in walking about my room. When it is electrified strongly, I can take it into another room and there fire spirits of wine with it. If while it is electrifying I put my finger, or a piece of gold which I hold in my hand, to the nail, I receive a shock which stuns my arms and shoulders. "A tin tube, or a man, placed upon electrics, is electrified much stronger by this means than in the common way. When I present this phial and nail to a tin tube, which I have, fifteen feet long, nothing but experience can make a person believe how strongly it is electrified. I am persuaded," he adds, " that in this
281
manner Mr. Bose would not have taken a second
electrical kiss.
Two
it.
thin glasses have been broken

It
by
the shock of
appears to
me
nary, that
when
this phial
and
nail are in contact
very extraordiwith
either conducting or non-conducting matter, the strong
shock does not follow.

metal, glass, sealing-wax,
etc.,
have cemented it to wood, when I have electrified
without any great

fore,
effect.
The human body,

to
it.
thereis
must contribute something
This opinion
I
confirmed by
in
my observing
that unless
hold the phial
cannot fire spirits of wine with it." ^ Btit it seems that none of the men who saw this account were able to repeat the experiment and produce the effects claimed by Von Kleist, and probably for this reason the discovery of the obscure Pomeranian
my
hand
was
for a time lost sight of. Musschenbroek's discovery was made within a short in fact, only a matter of time after Von Kleist's
about two months
later.
But the
difference in the
reputations of the two discoverers insured a very different reception for their discoveries.
Musschenbroek
was one of the foremost teachers of Europe, and so widely known that the great universities vied with
each other, and kings were bidding, for his services. Naturally, any discovery made by such a famous person would soon be heralded from one end of Europe to the
other.
And so when this professor of Leyden made his

came
to
be called the " Leyden There can be little jar," for want of a better name. doubt that Musschenbroek made his discovery entirely independently of any knowledge of Von Kleist's, or, for that matter, without ever having heard of the
discovery, the apparatus
282
PROGRESS
honorable.
IN
ELECTRICITY
Pomeranian, and his actions in the matter are entirely
His discovery was the result of an accident. While experimenting to determine the strength of electricity he suspended a gun-barrel, which he charged with electricity from a revolving glass globe. From the end of the gun-barrel opposite the globe was a brass wire, which extended into a glass jar partly filled with Musschenbroek held in one hand this jar, water. while with the other he attempted to draw sparks from the barrel. Suddenly he received a shock in the hand holding the jar, that " shook him like a stroke of lightning," and for a moment made him believe that "he was done for." Continuing his experiments, nevertheless, he found that if the jar were placed on a piece of metal on the table, a shock would be received by touching this piece of metal with one hand and touching the wire with the other that is, a path was made for the electrical discharge through the body. This was practically the same experiment as made by Von Kleist with his bottle and nail, but carried one step farther, as it showed that the "jar" need not necessarily be held in the hand, as believed by Von Kleist. Further experiments, continued by many philosophers
at the time, revealed what Von Kleist had already pointed out, that the electrified jar remained charged
some time. Soon after this Daniel Gralath, wishing to obtain stronger discharges than could be had from a single Ley den jar, conceived the idea of combining several
for
jars,
time grouping the generators in a "battery" which produced a discharge strong enough
thus for the
first
283
attempted to measure the strength of the discharges, but soon gave it up in despair, and the solution of this problem
to kill birds
also
and small animals.
He
was left for late nineteenth-century scientists. The advent of the Leyden jar, which made it possible to produce strong electrical discharges from a small and comparatively simple device, was followed by more spectacular demonstrations of various kinds all
over Europe. These exhibitions aroused the interest of the kings and noblemen, so that electricity no longer remained a "plaything of the philosophers" alone, but A favorite demonstration was that of kings as well.
of sending the electrical discharge of soldiers linked together
' '
through long
lines
by
pieces of wire, the dis-
charge causing them to spring into the air simultaneously" in a most astonishing manner. A certain monk in Paris prepared a most elaborate series of
demonstrations for the amusement of the king,
among
other things linking together an entire regiment of

nine hundred men, causing them to perform simulta-
neous springs and contortions in a manner most amusing to the royal guests. But not all the experiments being made were of a purely spectacular character, although most of them accomplished little except in a negative way. The famous Abbe Nollet, for example, combined useful experiments with spectacular demonstrations, thus keeping up popular interest while aiding the cause of scientific electricity.
WILLIAM WATSON
Naturally, the
new
discoveries
made
necessary a
new
nomenclature, new words and electrical terms being

284
PROGRESS
constantly employed
IN
ELECTRICITY
by the various writers of that was the English scientist day. William Watson, who was not only a most prolific
Among
these writers
writer but a tireless investigator.
Many
of the
words
' '
coined by him are now obsolete, but one at cuit," still remains in use.
least,
cir-
In 1746, a French scientist, Louis Guillaume le made a circuit including metal and water by laying a chain half-way around the edge of a pond,
Monnier, had
a
man
at either end holding
it.
One
of these
men
dipped his free hand in the water, the other presenting

a Ley den jar to a rod suspended on a cork float on the water, both men receiving a shock simultaneously.
Watson, a year later, attempted the same experiment on a larger scale. He laid a wire about twelve hundred feet long across Westminster Bridge over the Thames, bringing the ends to the water's edge on the opposite banks, a man at one end holding the wire and touching the water. A second man on the opposite side held the wire and a Leyden jar; and a third touched the jar with one hand, while with the other he grasped In this way they a wire that extended into the river. not only received the shock, but fired alcohol as readily across the stream as could be done in the laboratory. In this experiment Watson discovered the superiority
of wire over chain as a conductor, rightly ascribing
this superiority to the continuity of the metal.
Watson continued making
similar experiments over
longer watercourses, some of
thousand feet, he made the discovery so essential to later inventions, that the earth could be used as part of the circuit in
285
them as long as eight and while engaged in making one of these
the same manner as bodies of water. Lengthening his wires he continued his experiments until a circuit of four miles was made, and still the electricity seemed to
traverse the course instantaneously,
ently undiminished force,
if
and with apparthe insulation was perfect.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Watson's writings now carried the field of active discovery across the Atlantic, and for the first time an American scientist appeared a scientist who not only
but excelled, his European contemporaries. Benjamin Franklin, of Philadelphia, coming into possession of scm3 of Watson's books, became so interested in the experiments described in them that he began at once experimenting with electricity. In Watson's book were given directions for making various experiments, and these assisted Franklin in repeating the old experiments, and eventually adding new ones. Associated with Franklin, and equally interested and enthusiastic, if not equally successful in making discoveries, were three other men, Thomas Hopkinson, These men Philip Sing, and Ebenezer Kinnersley. worked together constantly, although it appears to have been Franklin who made independently the important discoveries, and formulated the famous Frankrivalled,
linian theory.
Working steadily, and keeping constantly in touch with the progress of the European investigators, Franklin soon made some experiments which he thought demonstrated some hitherto unknown phases This was the effect of of electrical manifestation. pointed bodies "in drawing off and throwing off the
286
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
PROGRESS
electrical fire."
IN
ELECTRICITY
In his description of this phenomenon,
Franklin writes
" Place
an iron shot of three or four inches diameter

of a clean, dry, glass bottle.
ceiling right over the
on the mouth
silken thread
By
a fine
of
from the
mouth
the bottle, suspend a small cork ball, about the bigness of a marble; the thread of such a length that
the cork ball
may
rest against the side of the shot.
Electrify the shot,
and the
ball will
be repelled to the
less,
distance of four or five inches,

to the quantity of electricity.
more or
according
if
When
in this state,
you present to the shot the point

pellency
is
of a long, slender
shaft-bodkin, at six or eight inches distance, the reinstantly destroyed,
and the cork
flies
to
blunt body must be brought within an inch, and draw a spark, to produce the same effect.
the shot.
"
that the electrical fire is drawn off by the you take the blade of the bodkin out of the wooden handle and fix it in a stick of sealing-wax, and then present it at the distance aforesaid, or if you bring it very near, no such effect follows; but sliding one finger along the wax till you touch the blade, and the If you present the ball flies to the shot immediately. point in the dark you will see, sometimes at a foot distance, and more, a light gather upon it like that of a fire-fly or glow-worm; the less sharp the point, the nearer you must bring it to observe the light; and at whatever distance you see the light, you may draw off the electrical fire and destroy the repellency. If a cork ball so suspended be repelled by the tube, and a point be presented quick to it, though at a considerable
point,
if
To prove
287
distance,
'tis
surprising to see
to the tube.
iron,
Points of
provided the
how suddenly it flies back wood will do as well as those of wood is not dry; for perfectly dry
wood will no more conduct electricity than sealing-wax. "To show that points will throw off as well as draw
off
the electrical
fire,
lay a long, sharp needle
upon the
shot,
it
and you cannot
electrify the shot so as to
make
repel the cork ball.
Or
fix
a needle to the end of a
it like
suspended gun-barrel or iron rod, so as to point beyond a little bayonet, and while it remains there, the gun-barrel or rod cannot, by applying the tube to the other end, be electrified so as to give a spark, the fire In the continually running out silently at the point. dark you may see it make the same appearance as it does in the case before mentioned." ^ Von Guericke, Hauksbee, and Gray had noticed that pointed bodies attracted electricity in a peculiar manner, but this demonstration of the "drawing off" of " electrical fire " was original with Franklin. Original also was the theory that he now suggested, which had at least the merit of being thinkable even by nonIt assumes that electricity is philosophical minds. like a fluid, that will flow along conductors and accumulate in proper receptacles, very much as ordinary fluids do. This conception is probably entirely incorrect, but nevertheless it is likely to remain a popular one, at least outside of scientific circles, or until something equally tangible
is
substituted.
Franklin's Theory of Electricity
According to Franklin's theory,

all
electricity exists in
bodies as a "
common
stock,"
and tends to seek and
PROGRESS
IN
ELECTRICITY
remain in a state of equilibrium, just as fluids naturalBut it may, nevertheless, be ly tend to seek a level. raised or lowered, and this equilibrium be thus disturbed. If a body has more electricity than its normal amount it is said to be positively electrified; but if it
has
less, it is
negatively electrified.
An
over-electrified
or " plus "
body tends to give its surplus stock to a body
containing the normal amount; while the "minus"

or under - electrified body will draw electricity from one containing the normal amount. Working along lines suggested by this theory, Franklin attempted to show that electricity is not created by friction, but simply collected from its diversified state, the rubbed glass globe attracting a certain quantity of "electrical fire," but ever ready to give it up to any body that has less. He explained the charged Leyden jar by showing that the inner coating of tin-foil received more than the ordinary quantity of electricity, and in consequence is positively electrified, while the outer coating, having the ordinary quantity of electricity
diminished,
is electrified
negatively.
jar,
These studies of the Leyden
and the studies
of
pieces of glass coated with sheet metal, led Franklin to
invent his battery, constructed of eleven large glass With this machine, plates coated with sheets of lead.
after
overcoming some
defects,
he was able to produce
electrical manifestations of great force
force that
"knew no bounds,"
as he declared ("except in the
matter of expense and of labor"), and which could be made to exceed " the greatest know effects of common
lightning."
This reference to lightning would seem to show
289
Franklin's belief, even at that thime, that lightning
electricity.
is
Many eminent
and
observers, such as
Hauks-
bee, Wall, Gray,
had noticed the resemblance between electric sparks and lightning, but none of these had more than surmised that the two might be identical. In 1746, the surgeon, John Freke, also
Nollet,
asserted his belief in this identity.

ly after this time, expressed the
Winkler, short-
same
belief,
and,
assuming that they were the same, declared that " there is no proof that they are of different natures" and still he did not prove that they were the same
;
nature.
Franklin Invents
the Lightning-rod
Even before Franklin proved

tric
conclusively the nature
of lightning, his experiments in
drawing
off
the elec-
charge with points led to some practical suggestions which resulted in the invention of the lightningIn the letter of July, 1750, which he wrote on rod.
in
the subject, he gave careful instructions as to the way which these rods might be constructed. In part
Franklin wrote: "

of points
May
not the knowledge of this power
be of use to mankind in preserving houses, etc., from the stroke of lightning by directing us to fix on the highest parts of the edifices upright rods of iron made sharp as a needle, and gilt to prevent rusting, and from the foot of these rods a
churches, ships,
wire
or
down the outside of the building into the grounds, down round one of the shrouds of a ship and down her side till it reaches the water? Would not these
pointed rods probably draw the electrical fire silently out of a cloud before it came nigh enough to strike,
290
PROGRESS
ble mischief?
IN
ELECTRICITY
terri-
and thereby secure us from that most sudden and
"To determine
this question,
whether the clouds

I
that contain the lightning are electrified or not,
pro-
be done On the top of some high tower or conveniently. steeple, place a kind of sentry-box, big enough to conFrom the middle tain a man and an electrical stand. of the stand let an iron rod rise and pass, bending out of the door, and then upright twenty or thirty feet, pointed very sharp at the end. If the electrical stand be kept clean and dry, a man standing on it when such clouds are passing low might be electrified and afford If sparks, the rod drawing fire to him from a cloud. any danger to the man be apprehended (though I think there would be none), let him stand on the floor of his box and now and then bring near to the rod the loop of a wire that has one end fastened to the leads, he holding it by a wax handle so the sparks, if the rod is electrified, will strike from the rod to the wire and not effect him." * Not satisfied with all the evidence that he had colit
;
pose an experiment to be tried where
may
lected pointing to the identity of lightning

tricity,
and
elec-
he adds one more striking and very suggestive piece of evidence. Lightning was known sometimes to strike persons blind without killing them. In experimenting on pigeons and pullets with his electrical machine, Frankling found that a fowl, when not killed outright, was sometimes rendered blind. The report of these experiments were incorporated in this famous
letter of the Philadelphia philosopher.
The
attitude of the
Royal Society towards

291
this
with its useful suggestions, must always remain as a blot on the record of this usually very receptive and liberal-minded body. Far from pubHshing it or receiving it at all, they derided the whole matter as too visionary for discussion by the
clearly stated letter,
society.
How was
it
possible that
any great
scientific
made by a self-educated colonial newspaper editor, who knew nothing of European science except by hear-say, when all the great scientific minds of Europe had failed to make the discovery?
discovery could be
How indeed
influential
And yet
it
would seem that
if
members
of the learned society
any of the had taken
the trouble to read over Franklin's clearly stated letter, they could hardly have failed to see that his suggestions were worthy of consideration. But at all events, whether they did or did not matters little. The fact remains that they refused to consider the paper seri-
ously at the time; and later on, when its true value became known, were obliged to acknowledge their error by a tardy report on the already well-known docu-
ment.
But
tists
of Franklin's theory
English scientists were cold in their reception and suggestions, the French scienwere not. Buff on, perceiving at once the imif
to have the
portance of some of Franklin's experiments, took steps famous letter translated into French, and soon not only the savants, but members of the court
and the king himself were intensely interested. Two scientists, De Lor and D'Alibard, undertook to test the
truth of Franklin's suggestions as to pointed rods "drawing off lightning." In a garden near Paris, the
latter erected a pointed iron rod fifty feet high
and an
292
PROGRESS
inch in diameter.
IN
ELECTRICITY
As no thunder-clouds appeared for several days, a guard was stationed, armed with an insulated brass wire, who was directed to test the iron rods with it in case a storm came on during D'Alibard's absence. The storm did come on, and the guard, not waiting for his employer's arrival, seized the wire and touched the rod. Instantly there was a report. Sparks flew and the guard received such a shock that he thought his time had come. Believing from his outcry that he was mortally hurt, his friends rushed for a spiritual adviser, who came running through rain and hail to administer the last rites but when he found the guard still alive and uninjured, he turned his visit to account by testing the rod himself several times, and
;
later writing a report of his experiments to
M. d'Ali-
bard.
This scientist at once reported the affair to the French Academy, remarking that "Franklin's idea
reality."
is Electricity
was no longer a conjecture, but a

Franklin Proves
that
Lightning
views,
Europe, hitherto somewhat sceptical of Franklin's was by this time convinced of the identity of lightning and electricity. It was now Franklin's turn
To him the fact that a rod, one hundred feet high, became electrified during a storm did not necessarily prove that the storm-clouds were electrified. A rod of that length was not really projected into the cloud, for even a very low thunder-cloud was more than a hundred feet above the ground. Irrefutable proof could only be had, as he saw it, by "extracting" the lightning with something actually sent up into the storm-cloud; and to accomplish this
to be sceptical.
VOL.
II.
20
^93
Franklin
made
his
his
silk
kite,
with which he finally

the world's satisfaction
demonstrated to
own and
that his theory was correct.
out into an open common on the he flew it well up into the threatening clouds, and then, touching the suspended key with his knuckle, received the electric spark and a little later he charegd a Ley den jar from the electricity drawn from the clouds with his kite. In a brief but direct letter, he sent an account of his kite and his experiment to England: " Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar," he wrote, "the arms so long as to reach to the four corners of a large, thin, silk handkerchief when extended; tie the corners of the handkerchief to the extremities of the cross so you have the body of a kite which being properly accommodated with a tail, loop, and string,
Taking approach
his kite
of a thunder-storm,
made of paper; but this bear the wind and wet of a thunder-gust without tearing. To the top of the upright stick of the cross is to be fixed a very sharp-pointed wire, rising a foot or more above the wood. To the end of the twine, next the hand, is to be tied a silk ribbon where the silk and twine join a key may be fastened. This kite is to be raised when a thunder-gust appears to be coming on, and the person who holds the string must stand within a door or window or under some cover, so that the silk ribbon may not be wet; and care must be taken that the twine does not touch the frame of the door or window. As soon as any of the thunder-clouds come over the kite, the pointed wire will draw the electric fire from them, and the kite,
will rise in the air like those
being of
silk is fitter to
294
PROGRESS
with
all
IN
ELECTRICITY
fila-
the twine, will be electrified and the loose
stand out everywhere and be attracted by the approaching finger, and when the rain has wet the kite and twine so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle, and with this key the phial may be charged; and from electric fire thus obtained spirits may be kindled and all other electric experiments performed which are usually done
ments
will
by the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube, and thereby the sameness of the electric matter with that of
lightning completely demonstrated."
^
In experimenting with lightning and Franklin's pointed rods in Europe, several scientists received severe shocks, in one case with a fatal result. Professor Richman, of St. Petersburg, while experimenting during a thimder-storm, with an iron rod which he had erected on his house, received a shock that killed him
instantly.
About 1733, as we have seen, Dufay had demonstrated that there were two apparently different kinds
of electricity one called vitreous because produced by rubbing glass, and the other resinous because produced by rubbed resinous bodies. Dufay supposed that these two apparently different electricities could only be produced by their respective substances; but twentv years later, John Canton (1715-1772), an Englishman, demonstrated that under certain conditions both might be produced by rubbing the same substance; Canton's experiment, made upon a glass tube with a roughened surface, proved that if the surface of the tube were rubbed with oiled silk, vitreous or positive elec;
295
tricity was produced, but if rubbed with flannel, resinous electricity was produced. He discovered still further that both kinds could be excited on the same tube simultaneously with a single rubber. To demonstrate this he used a tube, one-half of which had a roughened the other a glazed vSurface, With a single stroke of the rubber he was able to excite both kinds
of electricity
on
this tube.
He found
also that certain
substances, such as glass

positively
and amber, were electrified of mercury, and this led to his important discovery that an amalgam of mercury and tin, when used on the surface of the rubber, was
when taken out
very effective in exciting
glass.
XV
NATURAL HISTORY TO THE TIME OF LINN/EUS
MODERN
nffius.
systematic
botany
and zoology are
usually held to have their beginnings with Lin-
But there were
certain precursors of the fa-
mous Swedish naturalist, some of them antedating him by more than a century, whose work must not be altogether ignored such men as Konrad Gesner
cisco
Andreas Caesalpinus (15 79-1603), FranGiovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608-1679), John Ray (1628-1705), Robert Hooke (1635-1703), John Swammerdam (1637-1680), Mar(15 1 6-1 565),
Redi
(161 8- 1676),
cello
Malpighi (162 8- 169 4), Nehemiah Grew (1628-
1711), Joseph Toumefort (1656-1708), Rudolf Jacob Camerarius (166 5-1 721), and Stephen Hales (1677The last named of these was, to be sure, a con1761). temporary of Linnseus himself, but Gesner and Caesalpinus belong, it will be observed, to so remote an epoch
as that of Copernicus.
Reference has been made in an earlier chapter to the microscopic investigations of Marcello Malpighi,
who, as there related, was the first observer who actually saw blood corpuscles pass through the capillaries. Another feat of this earliest of great microscopists was to dissect muscular tissue, and thus become the father But Malpighi did not conof microscopic anatomy. He dissected fine his observations to animal tissues.
297
plants as well, and he
called the father of vegetable
almost as fully entitled to be anatomy, though here his honors are shared by the Englishman Grew. In 1 68 1, while Malpighi's work, Anatomia plantarum, was
is
on
its
way to
the Royal Society for publication, Grew's
Anatomy of Vegetables was in the hands of the publishers, making its appearance a few months earlier than the work of the great Italian. Grew's book was
epoch-marking in pointing out the sex-differences in
plants.
the
Robert Hooke developed the microscope, and took first steps towards studying vegetable anatomy,
publishing in 1667,
among
other results, the discovery
of the cellular structure of cork.
Hooke applied the
name
time in this connection. These discoveries of Hooke, Malpighi, and Grew, and the discovery of the circulation of the blood by William
"cell" for the
first
.
Harvey
shortly before, had called attention to the
and vegetable structures. Hales made a series of investigations upon animals to determine the force of the blood pressure; and similarly he made numerous statical experiments to determine the
similarity of animal
pressure of the flow of sap in vegetables.

table Statics,
His Vege-
published in 1727, was the first important work on the subject of vegetable physiology, and for
this reason
Hales has been called the father of this

classifications
branch of science. In botany, as well as in zoology, the

fications, for the
of Linnaeus of course supplanted all preceding classi-
obvious reason that they were much more satisfactory; but his work was a culmination of many similar and more or less satisfactory attempts
298
îr^^'
STEPHEN HALES S EXPERIMENT TO DETERMINE THE PRESSURE OF THE FLOW OF SAP

(A branch,
6, has been cut off and an open glass tube fitted over the end, the pressure being indicated by the rise of sap in the tube )
NATURAL HISTORY
of his predecessors.
About the year 1670 Dr. Robert
Morison (162 0-1683), of Aberdeen, published a classification of plants, his system taking into account the woody or herbaceous structure, as well as the flowers and fruit. This classification was supplanted twelve years later by the classification of Ray, who arranged
all
known
vegetables into thirty-three classes,
the
basis of this classification being the fruit.

later Rivinus, a professor of
A few years
botany
in the University
made still another classification, determining the distinguishing character chiefly from the flower,
of Leipzig,
and Camerarius and Tournefort

classifications.
also
made
elaborate
the Continent Toumefort's classification was the most popular until the time of Lin-
On
nûs,
his
systematic
arrangement including about
eight thousand species of plants, arranged chiefly ac-
cording to the form of the corolla.
Most
of these early workers
vegetable and animal kingdoms.

naturalists,
gave attention to both They were called
and the field of their investigations was spoken of as "natural history." The specialization of knowledge had not reached that later stage in which botanist, zoologist, and physiologist felt their labors Such a division was becoming to be sharply divided. more and more necessary as the field of knowledge extended but it did not become imperative until long That naturalist himself, after the time of Linnaeus.
;
we shall see, was equally distinguished as botanist and as zoologist. His great task of organizing knowledge was applied to the entire range of living things. Carolus Linnseus was bom in the town of Rashult, As a child he showed in Sweden, on May 13, 1707.
as
299
great aptitude in learning botanical names, and remembering facts about various plants as told him by
His eagerness for knowledge did not exhis father. tend to the ordinary primary studies, however, and, aside from the single exception of the study of physiHis ology, he proved himself an indifferent pupil. backwardness was a sore trial to his father, who was desirous that his son should enter the ministry; but
young Linnseus showed no liking and as he had acquitted himself well

as the
for that calling,
in his study of
physiology, his father at last decided to allow him to take up the study of medicine. Here at last was a
field
more to the
liking of the boy,
who soon
vied
with the best of his fellow-students for first honors. Meanwhile he kept steadily at work in his study of natural history, acquiring considerable knowledge of ornithology, entomology, and botany, and adding
continually to his collection of botanical specimens.
In 1729 his botanical knowledge was brought to the attention of Olaf Rudbeck, professor of botany in the University of Upsala, by a short paper on the sexes of
plants which Linnseus had prepared.
so impressed
Rudbeck was
his assistant the
by some
of the ideas expressed in this
paper that he appointed the author as

following year.
botanist.
This was the beginning of Linnaeus 's career as a The academic gardens were thus thrown open to him, and he found time at his disposal for pur-
suing his studies between lecture hours and in the evenings. It was at this time that he began the preparation of his
work the Sy sterna

300
naturcE, the first of his
great works, containing a comprehensive sketch of the
NATURAL HISTORY
whole
field of
natural history.
When
this
work was
published, the clearness of the views expressed and the systematic arrangement of the various classifications excited great astonishment
placed Linnaeus at once in This work was followed shortly by other uraHsts. publications, mostly on botanical subjects, in which,
and admiration, and the foremost rank of nat-
among other things, he worked out mous "system."

This system
is
is
in detail his fa-
founded on the sexes of plants, and
usually referred to as an "artificial
method"
of
takes into account only a few marked characters of plants, without uniting them by more general natural affinities. At the present
classification
because
it
time it is considered only as a stepping-stone to the "natural" system; but at the time of its promulgation it was epoch-marking in its directness and simplicity, and therefore superiority, over any existing systems. One of the great reforms effected by Linnûs was Technical in the matter of scientific terminology.
terms are absolutely necessary to scientific progress, and particularly so in botany, where obscurity, ambiguity, or prolixity in descriptions are fatally mis-
Linnaeus 's work contains something like a thousand terms, whose meanings and uses are carefully explained. Such an array seems at first glance arleading.
bitrary and unnecessary, but the fact that it has remained in use for something like two centuries is in-
disputable evidence of
tive language
still
its practicality.
of botany, as
all
The descripemployed by Linnaeus,

other subjects.
is
stands as a model for
Closely allied to botanical terminology
the sub-
301
ject of botanical nomenclature.
The
old
method
of
using a number
words to describe each different plant is obviously too cumbersome, and several attempts had been made prior to the time of Linnaeus Linnaeus himself made to substitute simpler methods.
of Latin
several unsatisfactory attempts before he finally hit

his system of "trivial names," which was developed in his Species plantarum, and which, with some minor alterations, remains in use to this day. The essence of the system is the introduction of binomial nomenclature that is to say, the use of two names and no more to designate any single species of animal
upon
or plant.
The
principle
is
quite the
same as that
ac-
cording to which in modern society a man has two names, let us say, John Doe, the one designating his Similarly each family, the other being individual. species of animal or plant, according to the Linnsean
system, received a specific or "trivial" name; while various species, associated according to their seeming natural affinities into groups called genera, were given the same generic name. Thus the generic name given
all
members
of the cat tribe being Felts, the

;
name
Felis leo designates the lion
Felis pardus, the leopard
Felis domestica, the house cat,
perfectly simple
and so on. This seems and natural now, but to understand
great a reform the binomial nomenclature introduced we have but to consult the work of Linnaeus 's
predecessors.
is,
how
single illustration will suffice.
for example, a kind of grass, in referring to
the naturalist anterior to Linnaeus, if absolutely unambiguous, was obliged to use the
There which he would be

fol-
lowing descriptive formula:

302
CAROLUS LINN/EUS
NATURAL HISTORY
Gramen Xerampelino, Miliacea, praetenuis ramosaque sparsa panicula, sive Xerampelino congener, arvense, cssUvum; gramen minutissimo semine. Linnaeus gave to this plant the name Poa bulbosa a name that
according to the new system, to distinguish this from every other species of vegetable. It does not
sufficed,
any special knowledge to appreciate the advantage of such a simplification. While visiting Paris in 1738 Linnaeus met and botanized with the two botanists whose "natural
require
method "
of classification
was
later to supplant his
own
" artificial system."
These were Bernard and Antoine
Latirent de Jussieu.
tists
The
efforts of these
two
scien-
were directed towards obtaining a system which
should aim at clearness, simplicity, and precision, and at the same time be governed by the natural affinities
by them,
The natural system, as finally propounded based on the number of cotyledons, the structure of the seed, and the insertion of the stamens. Succeeding writers on botany have made various modof plants.
is
ifications of this system,
but nevertheless
it
stands as
the foundation-stone of
tion.
modem
botanical classifica-
APPENDIX
REFERENCE-LIST
CHAPTER

^ (p. 4). James Harvey Robinson, An Introduction to the History of Western Europe, New York, 1898, p. 330. ^ (p. 6). Henry Smith Williams, A Prefatory Characterization of The History of Italy, in vol. IX. of The Historians' History of the World, 25 vols., London and New York, 1904.
CHAPTER in
MEDIEVAL SCIENCE
*
IN THE
WEST
(p. 47).
Eugene
and
Man of Science,
Miintz, Leonardo da Vinci, Artist, Thinker, 2 vols.. New York, 1892. Vol. II., p. 73.
CHAPTER
THE NEW COSMOLOGY
^
IV
TO KEPLER AND GALILEO
COPERNICUS
(p. 62).
kbrper, trans,
^
Copernicus, IJber die Kreisbewegungen der Weltfrom Dannemann's Geschichte du NaturwissenGalileo,
schaften, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1896.

(p. 90).
Dialogo dei due Massimi Systemi del

op.
cit.
Mondo,
trans,
from Dannemann,
CHAPTER V
GALILEO AND THE
NEW
PHYSICS
' (p. loi). Rothmann, History of Astronomy (in the Library of Useful Knowledge), London, 1834. ^ Whewell, History of the Inductive (p. 102). William Vol. II., p. 48. Sciences, 3 vols,, London, 1847. ^ (p. III). The Lives of Eminent Persons, by Biot, Jardine,
London, 1833. William Gilbert, De Magnete, translated by P. Fleury Motteley, London, 1893. In the biographical memoir,
Bethune,
*
etc.,
(p. 113).
p. xvi.
'
(p. 114).
Gilbert, op.
cit.,
cit.,
p. xlvii.
(p.
114). Gilbert, op.
p. 24.
CHAPTER VI
TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES
* ^
ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY

20.
(p. 125).
(p. 126).
Exodus
Charles
xxxii.,
Mackay, Popular Delusions,
vols.,
London, 1850. Vol. II., p. 280. ^ (p. 140). Mackay, op. cit., vol. II., p. 289. * (p. 145). John B. Schmalz, Astrology Vindicated, New York, 1898. * (p. 146). William Lilly, The Starry Messenger, London,
1645. P^
(^3-
(p. 149). (p. 152).
Lilly, op.
cit.,
p. 70.
George Wharton, An Astrological Jugement upon His Majesty's Present March begun from Oxford, May 7, 1645,
'
pp. 7-10.
^ (p. 154). C. W. Roback, ton, 1854, p. 29.
The Mysteries
of Astrology, Bos-
CHAPTER
VII

*
(p. 159).
A. E. Waite, The Hermetic and Alchemical WritVol.

I,,
ings of Paracelsus, 2 vols,, London, 1894,
p. 21,
306
APPENDIX
^(p. 167). E. Earliest Times,
*
(p. 173).
T. Withington, Medical History from the London, 1894, p. 278. John Dalton, Doctrines of the Circulation, Phil-
adelphia, 1884, p. 179.

* (p. 174). William Harvey, De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis, London, 1803, chap. x. ^ (p. 178). The Works of William Harvey, translated byRobert Willis, London, 1847, p. 56.
CHAPTER Vni
MEDICINE IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES
(p. 189). Hermann Baas, History of Medicine, by H. E. Henderson, New York, 1894, p. 504.
^
translated
^ (p. 189). E. Earliest Times,
T.
Withington, Medical History from the

p. 320.
London, 1894,
CHAPTER IX
PHILOSOPHER-SCIENTISTS AND
*
NEW
INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING
(p. 193).
2
Philosophy,
^
George L. Craik, Bacon and His Writings and Vol. II., p. 121. vols., London, 1846.
(p. 193).
From
Htixley's address
of
On
Descartes's Discourse
Touching
the
Method
Using One's Reason Rightly and of
Seeking Scientific Truth. ^ (p. 195). Rene Descartes, Traite de

edition, in 11 vols.), Paris, 1824.
VHomme
(Cousins's
Vol. VI., p. 347.
CHAPTER X
THE SUCCESSORS OF GALILEO IN PHYSICAL SCIENCE
'
(p. 205). (p. 205).
See The Phlogiston Theory, vol. IV. Robert Boyle, Philosophical Works,
vols.,
' Vol. III., p. 41. (p. 206). Ibid., vol. III., * p. 47. (p. 206). Ibid., vol. II., p. 92. (p. 207). Ibid., ' ^ vol. II., p. 2. Ibid., vol, I., (p. 209). p. 8. (p. 209). ^ (p. Ibid., vol. III., p. 508. 210). Ibid., vol. III., p. 361.
London, 1738.
* (p. 213). Otto von Guericke, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, No. 88, for 1672,
P- 5103.
^''
(p. 222).
Von
Guericke, Phil. Trans, for 1669, vol
I.,
pp. 173, 174.
CHAPTER XI
NEWTON AND THE COMPOSITION OF LIGHT
*
(p. 233). Phil.
Trans, of Royal Soc. of London, No. 80,
2 (p 234). Ihid., pp. 3084, 3085. 1672, pp. 3076-3079. ^ Concerning the English Nation, Letters Voltaire, (p. 235). London, 181 1.
CHAPTER Xn
*
(p. 242).
Sir
Isaac
Newton,
Principia,
translated
by
Andrew Motte, New York, 1848, (p. 250). Newton 0^. cit., pp.
^
pp. 391, 392.

506, 507.
CHAPTER XIV
PROGRESS IN ELECTRICITY FROM GILBERT AND VON GUERICKE TO FRANKLIN
*
(p. 274).
A letter from
vol.
M. Dufay, F.R.S. and of the Royal
Academy
^
of Sciences at Paris, etc., in the Phil. Trans, of the
Royal Soc,
(p. 282).
XXXVIII., pp. 258-265. Dean von Kleist, in the Danzick Memoirs,
vol.
I.,
p. 407.
From Joseph
Priestley's History of Electricity,
Lon-
don, 1775, pp. 83, 84.

^ (p. 288). Benjamin Franklin, New Experiments servations on Electricity, London, 1760, pp. 107, 108. * (p. 291). Franklin, op. cit., pp. 62, 63. ^
and Ob-
(p. 295).
Franklin, op.
cit.,
pp. 107, 108.
[For notes and bibliography to vol. II. see vol, V.]
END OF VOL. 308
II
M
Wi ///
3
ni$.^
:-rf
13
1997
/-/en^
/^'^
C,
34 ÔW
BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS
CHESTNUT HILL. MASS.
may be Books may be kept for two weeks and reserved. renewed for the same period, unless
Two
cents a day
is
charged for each book kept
overtime.
If
you cannot
find
what you want, ask the
Librarian
who
will
be glad to help you.

responsible for books drawn
all fines
The borrower
on
his card
is
and for
accruing
on
the same.

A History of Science, VOL 2 Beginnings of Modern Science - Henry Smith Williams (1904)

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

A History of Science, VOL 2 Beginnings of Modern Science - Henry Smith Williams (1904)

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Digitized by tine Internet Archive

Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries

SCIENCE IN THE DARK AGE

MEDIEVAL SCIENCE AMONG THE ARABIANS

COPERNICUS TO KEPLER AND GALILEO

and the law of equilibrium,

ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY 124 Fabulous claims of numerous

FROM PARACELSUS TO HARVEY

MEDICINE IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES

Royal Society of London and the great Continental

sition of light, p. 235.

NEWTON AND THE LAW OF GRAVITATION

of universal gravitation not original with Newton, p. 236

this pull, incorrect, p. this

INSTRUMENTS OF PRECISION IN THE AGE OF NEWTON

of the telescope, p. 252

DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE ALHAZEN'S MEASUREMENT OP

THE HEIGHT OF THE ATMOSPHERE

TYCHO brake's QUADRANT

JOHANN KEPLER. KEPLER's MECHANISM TO ILLUSTRATE

" HIS (iNCORRECT)

EARLY THEORY AS TO THE ORBITS OF THE PLANETARY

GALILEO BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL

" " "

VIEW IN THE LIBRARY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY

VON GUERICKE'S air-pump

ROBERT HOOKE's MICROSCOPE

DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE NEWTON's LAW OF GRAVITATION

URE OF THE FLOW OF SAP

THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SCIENCE

actual sequence of events, since, as already pointed

other hand, progressive steps are taken contempora-

also the predecessors

will aid the reader to recall that, so far

The same order

be held to in succeeding volumes. Several of the very greatest of scientific generaliza-

by the present book: for example, the Copemican theory of the

the laws of motion, the theory of the circulation of the

labors of the investigators of the early decades of the

eighteenth century, terminating with Franklin's dis-

THE DARK AGE

the classical epoch would seem as

does the epoch that succeeded

But we must not

that in the centres of civilization

along there were

late the principle of historical continuity to

then, that the direction in

the problems in question.

Nor can we doubt that men

ferent channels were cannot be in

What these difdoubt they were

then, centred in the priesthood.

W"e^ know that "the

THE DARK AGE

were, for the

His professional studies tend to

investigator of the operations of nature.

usually a sceptic, with a spontaneous interest in

mind away from

But the theologian "intends" his and towards mysticism.

a professional believer in the supernatural; he

discounts the value of merely "natural" phenomena.

His whole attitude of mind